Elemental Nations Online
by Taz Bill
Summary: *Pending rewrite* While testing the final version of his father's VRMMO ENO, Elemental Nations Online, Naruto, Kushina and Minato are involved in an accident. While the crash takes Minato and Kushina's lives, Naruto enters a coma while linked to the game. When Kirigaya Kazuto decides to dive into ENO to try waking his friend, he receives an unexpected surprise.
1. Prologue

**As I'm sure any author knows this was a difficult 'chapter'. Starting a new story always is lol. Advice and criticism is always welcome as long as its constructive. I do have ideas to make sure my readers aren't simply reading canon with Kirito added to the story so worry not.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do i own Sword Art Online.**

Kazuto Kirigaya was sitting in the waiting room of the hospital waiting on his mother to show arrive with his Nerve Gear. He was there visiting his best friend, Naruto Namikaze. Naruto and his parents had been in any accident six months ago. Ever since the accident, Naruto had been in a coma. Unfortunately, Minato and Kushina died on immediately.

The doctors said the most likely reason as to why Naruto survived, was because he had been testing his father's video game using his own Nerve Gear. This meant that his body and brain never registered the danger, therefore he never tensed up. Surprisingly, when the police and paramedics arrived, Naruto was still wearing his Nerve Gear. This turned out to be a blessing, since as soon as they attempted to remove his gear, his vitals started going crazy.

It was determined that since he was still linked to the game at the time of the accident, that maybe his brain was dependent on the game for the time being.

For that reason, Kazuto had been trying to convince his mother to allow him to link his Nerve Gear to Naruto's for the past four months. Since they were such good friends, Kazuto had been given a copy of the game to test. The final straw for him had been earlier today while he was visiting. It had began like any other visit, with him trying to get a response from Naruto.

Suddenly, Naruto's vitals skyrocketed and Kazuto had been rushed out of the roomroom. Afterwards, Kazuto was finally able to convince his mother and the doctors to allow him to link with Naruto's game. Fortunately, today gaff been the end of classes, so Kazuto had three months to get his friend back. Thanks to the games time system, that would give the boys three years in-game to find a way to get Naruto out.

Thanks to the recent events, Kazuto didn't notice his mother until she was standing directly in front of him.

Midori Kirigaya had a concerned lol on her face as she held out his equipment. "Are you sure about this Kazuto? Three months of being in a bed means you'll have to go through physical therapy to learn to walk again."

"That's if it takes that long," he said, taking his gear as he stood up and began walking towards his friends room. "Besides, you and I both know that he would have done the same for me months ago. We're like brothers to each other."

Midori gave a small smile as they reached their destination. "Well, once you pull him out of that game you will be." Her smile faded as she saw the unmoving blond, "Kushina and Minato did name me as his godmother after all."

Kazuto frowned as the nurse was attaching wires to monitor his own vitals, "If he asks...how do i tell him?"

"Speak from your heart Kazuto. Besides his parents, no one is as close to Naruto as you."

They say in silence as the nurse finished setting everything up. "The I.V. will keep his body as healthy as possible while he is under. He'll be in a medically induced coma during the duration of his stay. We will also have everything set up and ready to wake him at a moments notice. Whenever you're ready Kirigaya-san."

Kazuto nodded before putting on his Nerve Gear and laying back. "See you when i wake up," he said as he closed his eyes. "Link start!"

Midori stayed silent as the nurse monitored both boys vitals for a few minutes before she left. Finally, Midori stood and kissed both boys on the forehead before waking towards the door. She stopped in the doorway and looked towards Kazuto, "Bring him back Kazuto, and be safe."

 **That's a wrap for the prologue. Leave me a review and let me know what you think.**


	2. Link Start

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do i own Sword Art Online.**

 **As a special gift to the readers i decided to crank this chapter out quickly.**

 **In case anyone didn't see my comment I the reviews, I can not give a definitive answer on how often I'll be able to update. My goal is at least once per week, I will do my best to stick to that but things happen. Realistically, I plan on trying to write more than one per week even though I'll only release one, this is so that if something comes up I'll have a chapter already wrote. With that said, let's get into the first chapter.**

 ** _Link start:_**

Kazuto found himself surrounded by darkness starting at a single screen prompt. _Would you like to start a new game or transfer a character from a previous game?_ _'Well I'm definitely not starting from scratch,'_ Kazuto thought to himself. After selecting his character, his body glowed blue for a moment before suddenly he found himself standing in the village hidden in the leaves.

The first thing he did was open his menu to make sure nothing had changed. ' _Now I'm really glad Naruto and I decided to join the same village, otherwise this would be much harder.'_

 ** _On the other side of town:_**

Naruto was just finishing up his training in summoning for the day. He had met an old man while said old man was peeking on the females bathing house. The man turned out to be one of the legendary sannin and agreed to train him for the finals of the chunin exams.

 _'I'm still not sure what's going on here, but at least I'm finally getting some good training,'_ Naruto thought as he started heading towards home. He suddenly stopped as a strange screen appeared in the air in front of him.

 _Meet me at Ichiraku Ramen as soon as possible! - Kirito Uchia_

' _What the hell was that?!'_ Naruto thought slightly freaked out. ' _And who the hell is Kirito, better yet, I thought Sasuke and his brother were the only two Uchia left... I'm definitely going to check this out and hopefully get some answers.'_

 ** _At Ichiraku Ramen:_**

"I really hope he doesn't keep me waiting for too long," Kirito said while leaning against the outside of the ramen stand.

What he wasn't expecting was an answer, "And who exactly are you waiting on if i may ask?"

Kirito turned around to see that the shop owner had come out. "Just a friend, and if i know him, he's probably one of your biggest customers," he said laughing at the end.

The owner gave him an inquisitive look, "You wouldn't be talking about Naruto Uzumaki would you? Blond hair, blue eyes and a knack for getting into trouble."

Kirito smiled, "The one and only, seems I was right about his love for ramen." ' _Hm, so he's using his mother's name, probably didn't want the attention that Minato's name would give him.'_

The old man have a hearty chuckle, "Are you kidding me, if it wasn't for that boy i probably would've went out of business years ago. If you're a friend of Naruto's, them you're a friend of mine. Why don't you come in, you can have a bowl on the house while you wait, he usually swings by for a few bowls around this time after his training."

Kirito nodded and entered, taking a seat on the far side as he caught up on how far in the story his friend had progressed. _'Seems like he's in the chunin exams final stage, not bad. I see the game placed me in the exams also, probably because I had just finished my first match. Looks like I'm getting a pass straight to the second round, unfortunately it'll be a three way fight between the winners of the third and fourth matches along with myself.'_ He was so busy he didn't notice someone else enter until they tapped him on the shoulder.

"I assume you're Kirito Uchia?" Naruto asked as the boy turned to look at him. Suddenly he froze, _'He actually looks very familiar...'_

"You mean you don't recognize me?" Kirito questioned his friend.

Naruto examined the newcomer for a few moments before speaking his previous thought, "You do look kind of familiar." Naruto trailed off for a moment, "But as far as i knew, Sasuke was the last loyal Uchia."

Kirito sighed, ' _Seems as if he has partial amnesia from the accident, this is definitely not going to make things easier.'_ "How about we both get some ramen, you can tell me what I've missed and I'll fill you in afterwards back at your place, my treat this time."

Naruto's eyes lit up at hearing this, "Well it would be rude to turn down such an offer," he replied with a smile.

 ** _Back at Naruto's apartment:_**

"So," Kirito began as they approached the door to Naruto's place, "What do you know about your current situation?"

Naruto unlocked his door and held it open for his new friend. "Well this village is all I've known for the past six years," he said as he followed Kirito inside and locked his door. "But I've always felt like something is off about this place."

 _'Hm, seems at least he is subconsciously aware.'_ After turning down anything to drink, Kirito took a seat on the couch. "What if i told you that you're right and that none of this," he said as he motioned towards their surroundings, "is real."

Naruto gained a serious look in his eyes, "I'd ask you to start explaining yourself."

So Kirito told him about their friendship in the real world, how Naruto was actually in a coma, showed him how to open the menu, and explained why he was in the game while leaving out any information regarding their real names or Naruto's parents being dead. It just so happened that Naruto decided to ask about his parents. "I can't tell you that bud."

"And why not?"

Kirito sighed and decided his feet were extremely interesting at that precise moment, "Because you're farther is a character in the game, and finding out details about the real world could possibly trigger your memory." Kirito looked up and could tell what Naruto was thinking, "If i just come out and tell you, there's a chance that it won't do anything for you. You have to figure it out, but i will be here to help you."

The news that he wouldn't be able to get more information brought his spirits down a little bit, "I kind of feel bad."

Kirito was slightly confused by this, "Whys that?"

"Well it seems like you're going through a lot for me, and i don't even really remember you."

Kirito chuckled at that, "The most important thing you need to know is that you and I are about as close as brothers. That's why I'm willing to help you."

Hearing this made Naruto's eyes water, _'I always wanted a family.'_ Naruto got up and bowed slightly. "Thank you, I wish there was something I could do to repay your kindness."

"Hey now, no reason to go bowing and shit." Kirito said while waving his hands in front of him. "Besides that's what family does, they look out for each other," he said with a smile.

"Still, off there's anything you need don't hesitate to ask," Naruto said after standing straight again.

"Actually, now that you mention it, since i just got here i could use help finding a place to stay."

Naruto looked at him slightly confused for a moment, "Aren't you going to be logging out at night?"

Kirito face palmed for forgetting such am important detail, "Actually i forgot to mention, i had the doctors place me in a medically induced coma. I'm currently out of school for three months and my mom said that if need be, I can stay for any extra two months and she'll collect any school work for me until then," he said with a smile. "Considering the games time dilation, that gives me up to five years straight in here."

This really caught Naruto off guard that anyone would go this far for him, especially since everyone in the game spent most of the time acting like he didn't exist. Then he remembered Kiritos's request to find a place to stay and got an idea, "You said we're basically brothers right?" After getting a nod he continued, "Then you can just stay with me, or if you prefer we can speak with Hokage-Jiji about you living in the Uchia district."

Kirito definitely wasn't expecting Naruto to offer to open his home to him, "Are you sure about me staying with you? You don't even know me in here."

Naruto smiled, "That may be true, but in the short amount of time that I've known you, you've already done more for me than anyone here besides the Hokage."

This made Kirito smile despite hearing how lonely his best friend had been up until now. "In that case I guess we're roommates now," he said holding his hand out and shaking Naruto's. "So, how about we take a look at your skills since you already saw mine?"

Naruto smiled knowing he would finally start gaining some more help in this strange world. After opening his menu and navigating to the skills screen, both boys stood with their jaws on the floor for a few seconds.

Kirito was able to recover first, "Jeez, it's a good thing i came when i did, otherwise all these skill points would've went to waste. Honestly, if it wasn't for your ** Shadow Clones** you probably wouldn't have made it this far."

Naruto decided at this moment that his feet were very interesting, "To be honest, i guess i should give credit where it's due."

Kirito looked back at Naruto questioningly, "Is there something I'm missing?" After receiving a nod in the affirmative, he continued, "Care to enlighten me?"

Naruto sighed as he scrolled down looking for a menu he was sure would be present. Finding it he selected it and they both watched as more skills popped up.

Kirito couldn't believe his eyes, "You seriously selected to play as the hardest character available?!" He paused as he thought about who he was speaking to, "Now that i think about it, you always did like a challenge. So which bijuu did you choose?"

Naruto at least had the decency to look sheepish, "The Kyuubi."

Kirito began massaging his temples, "Well, on the bright side, once you gain full control over it, you should become one of the strongest characters possible." He scrolled through the menu in front of him, "Based on this menu, that's going to take a long time. For now we should probably focus on your ninja skills first. What's your biggest weaknesses?"

Naruto placed a hand behind his head, "Thats easy, chakra control thanks to the fur ball. Also I'm pretty weak against genjutsu. I could definitely use an actual taijutsu while we're at it, the instructors at the academy purposely taught me the wrong moves."

Kirito sighed, "All three of those are because of your status as a Jinchuuriki. Choosing that basically means you're on your own normally. Hell you were lucky to find Jiraiya." Kirito navigated back to Naruto's ninja skills, "So, you're level 15 which gives you 115 skill points. On top of that it looks like you never distributed the starting points which gives you a total of 315 points."

Naruto got a hopeful look, "That sounds like a lot."

Kirito smiled at his enthusiasm, "Well, the 200 starting points is enough to start your eight primary skills at 25 each, which is genin level." He began scrolling through Naruto's skills, "looks like Taijutsu, Genjutsu, and Chakra Control are the only ones that aren't there already. They're at 15, five and five. Your stealth is also only at 20, but you're receiving a penalty of -50 for your orange jumpsuit we're definitely fixing that tomorrow," Kirito laughed as he finished raising the first three to 25 each.

 _Taijutsu raised to genin level, choose a style: Aikido or Muay Thai?_ After about ten minutes of talking to Kirito and debating, Naruto had finished those upgrades. He could now recognise and dispel D rank genjutsu just by flaring his chakra and he could recognise C ranks. He could instantly feel a difference in his chakra control, and he received the starting moves for Aikido which he had chosen since his first opponent was a Hyuuga and he definitely did not want to get into a grappling match with someone who could shut off his chakra with a simple touch.

Kirito began looking through the rest of Naruto's skills, "Based on the choices of your second opponent in the exams we're gonna raise your speed from 35 to 75 which is chunin level. Because of your usage of **Shadow Clones** , your Ninjutsu is at 40, we should boost that up to at least 65. It's still a little below chunin, but we'll get it there before the exams continue."

Naruto nodded, "I can see the point in that, I definitely want to raise my chakra control at least to chunin and that's another 50 points. To be honest I'm really leaning towards raising my speed more."

Kirito gained a evil done in his eyes that sent a shiver down Naruto's spine, "Oh, i already have a plan for speed, and it won't cost you any more points." He laughed when Naruto crouched in the corner while crying anime years and rocking back and forth. Kirito cleared his throat, "I do agree with the chakra control though, with your reserves being that of an elite jonin you need more control. Alright, you've got 150 more points, I really wanna have you save the rest because i have a plan tomorrow which involves me coming to your meeting with Jiraiya."

This caught Naruto off guard, "Really, what's your plan?"

Kirito smiled and placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder, "What do you know about elemental manipulation?"

 ** _The following day:_**

Jiraiya was at the usual meeting place for himself and his new apprentice. He had just looked up from writing some notes in his notebook for his next book when he spotted said apprentice with another person around his age who looked like an Uchia. "Hey kid, who's the gaki?"

Kirito grew a tick mark on his forehead, "My name is Kirito."

"You wouldn't happen to be the Uchia who was out of the village during the massacre would you?" Jiraiya questioned pretty sure of the answer. After receiving a nod as a response he continued, "Well I hate to tell you, but the Great Jiraiya only has time for one student."

"What makes you think i wanted you to train me you old perv?!"

Jiraiya gained a shocked expression, "I am not a perv young man." He then proceeded to go through an elaborate dance that ended with his for raised on a log that appeared out of nowhere. "I'm a super perv!"

Both boys face faulted at his antics. "Thats not something to be proud of," Kirito deadpanned.

Jiraiya ignored them, "So if you're not here for training, what do you want kid?"

It was Naruto who answered him, "Actually, Kirito is here because you and I ate going to be changing my training schedule a bit."

Jiraiya gained an inquisitive look, "Oh really, what changes are you thinking of?"

"Well," Naruto began, "during the second half of the day Kirito and me are going to be sparring, mainly to work on my speed and reflexes along with my genjutsu since he's an Uchia." Naruto finished, crossing his arms to show that his mind had been made up.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow wondering where Naruto had gained the finality to his personality. "And what makes you think you're more suited to teach my apprentice than a Sannin?" he asked Kirito.

Kirito simply responded with a smile, "First of all, the only thing you have worked with him on is chakra control. Which i concede that he did need very desperately but is not very helpful considering his first opponent is the Hyuuga prodigy." He then vanished and reappeared behind Jiraiya almost faster than even the Legendary Toad Sannin could follow, "Secondly, with my **Swift Release** , I'm the perfect person to help him with speed."

Jiraiya was definitely shocked, "So you're not a full blooded Uchia?" After receiving a nod Jiraiya began thinking, _'The kid does actually make some pretty solid points. Plus this will give me more time for research.'_ He gained a slight nose bleed at the final thought, then he realized something. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you in the exams also?"

Kirito smirked, "I'm glad that you actually care about your apprentice but we've already discussed this and decided to go through with it anyway since I'm in the opposite bracket. If we both happen to make it to the final match we both will be at a disadvantage knowing each others moves. Plus, no offense Naruto, but with his current speed he would have absolutely no time to react to me."

Jiraiya gained a serious look, "Then why are you offering to help him?"

Naruto responded before Kirito had a chance, "Because he's my best friend and wants a good fight if we both do make it to the finals. Besides it's not an offer, we're simply informing you."

Jiraiya was actually a little shocked by Naruto's attitude today, "Alright alright kid, if this is what you want then we'll do it. The question still remains though, why did he need to come with to inform me of this change?"

This time Kirito answered, "Actually we wanted to check his elemental affinities so he can try to get a few new moves over this last week. It would be best if he did that training with you so he can have a few tricks incase we do fight in the exams."

Jiraiya was surprised by this, he figured the kid would want to know as much about a potential opponent as possible. _'I guess the kid wasn't lying about wanting a good fight.'_ "Yeah, i got done chakra paper on me. We'll get it checked before he meets with you after lunch. And I'll pick him up a few scrolls before we meet tomorrow."

"Cool, well i guess ill meet you at Ichiraku for lunch Naruto. Oh, by the way ero-sennin," Kirito began, smiling at Jiraiya's reaction to the nickname, "I told Naruto about the secret of shared memories with his **Shadow Clones**." Kirito then vanished using a combination of his bloodline and a **Shunshin.**

"So sensei, when did you plan on telling me about that little secret?" Naruto questioned with his arms crossed.

Jiraiya smirked, "Not until you figured it out on your own. You can't be expected to be told everything. Now let's get to work, we're gonna have to work twice as hard now that our time is cut in half."

 ** _One week later in the exam stadium:_**

Kirito glanced around at the contestants that were present. There were only three people missing, a sound-nin named Dosu, Naruto and his teammate, Sasuke Uchia. ' _Naruto better hurry or he's going to be late.'_

The proctor approached the finalists, "There's been a change to the matches, Kirito Uchia will now be fighting Shino in the third match, understood?"

Both Kirito and Shino nodded, "Proctor, start happens if someone first show up?" Kirito asked already expecting the answer.

"Contestants have until their match to show up, otherwise they will automatically forfeit."

Just as Kirito was beginning to worry about his friend there was a large poof of smoke about ten meters away. "This is lame ero-baka!" the other contestants heard from within the smoke. When it cleared it revealed Jiraiya in his signature pose standing in a toad and Naruto in front with his arms crossed and a sweatdrop.

The other finalists were too busy observing Naruto's new outfit to hear Jiraiya's complaints about 'disrespectful gakis'.

Naruto was now wearing an unzipped black jacket with blood red stripes running up the sleeves and red swirl on the back, underneath he had a black mesh shirt. His pants were black with the same blood red stripes running up the legs tucked into black boots. Finally he had traded his headband for one with a black cloth that feel half way down his back, it actually seemed like the same metal plate though.

Kirito smirked, "Seems like you decided to take my advice on a new outfit," he said as Naruto walked over and bumped fists with him.

"Yeah, I decided it was time I started dressing like a shinobi," he said as he took his spot beside Kirito.

Kirito pat him on the shoulder, "Looks good on ya man."

Jiraiya decided to interrupt before taking his place in the stands, "You better Winn this thing kid, can't have you giving the Legendary Toad Sannin a bad name."

Kirito decided to respond before Naruto could, "He has to beat me to win you old perv." He laughed as Jiraiya cried anime tears before leaving the arena.

A contestant with pale eyes and long hair shot a glare towards the pair, "As if failures like you two could actually win this!"

Kirito merely glanced towards him, "Hn, you must be Neji?" He then looked straight at Naruto, "If you actually lose to that gender confused loser when he's got that huge stick shoved up his ass, I'll beat your ass for the fun of it after this is over."

Naruto smiled and lightly shoved his friend, "Not a chance in hell bro."

Before Neji could explode on the two, the Hokage spoke up and have a speech to start off the final round of the chunin exams.

Afterwards the proctor approached the finalists, "Everyone except Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuuga make their way towards the contestants box." After everyone left the field he then addressed the two remaining genin along with the crowd, "The first match of the chunin exam finals will now begin, are both fighters ready?" After receiving nods from both he rose his hand above his head, "Naruto Uzumaki vs Neji Hyuuga FIGHT!"

 **Cliffhanger no jutsu!**

 **Sorry guys but i thought that would be a great place to stop this one. Mondays will be my release day, no that does not mean you'll get another chapter tomorrow lol. Please, leave me a review and let me know what you thought. I can't improve if i don't know what's wrong. Anyways, hope you enjoyed. :D**


	3. A shocking discovery and a new friend

**Welcome back to Elemental Nations** **Online. In this story, Naruto without using his skill points would be equal to cannon Naruto, figured I'd answer that question before people start mentioning how 'OP' he seems in this chapter. I would like to thank everyone for their reviews. Specifically, I would like to thank Gabrielus Prime for the suggestion. I had a pairing planed for Naruto, but it wasn't going to be until far later. Once you realize who she is don't worry, it will not be instantaneous. I will be putting in some thought into developing a friendship before a relationship. Honestly, they may not even start dating in this story, it just depends on how my imagination plays out lol.** **Anyways, let's start the next chapter of ENO. Link start!**

 **Disclaimer: I still do not own Naruto nor Sword Art Online. I'm working on it though lol.**

 **A shocking discovery and a new ally:**

"Naruto Uzumaki vs Neji Hyuuga. Fight!" Genma said before performing a **Shunshin** to get out of the way of the two chunin hopefuls.

Both fighters remained in their places starring impassively at each other. Suddenly Neji smirked, "You should just forfeit now, a failure like you has no hope against a prodigy like myself. You were fated to lose the moment we were matched against-"

"Are you done yet?" Naruto interrupted.

Neji's smirk dropped as a tick mark made its way to his forehead. "You should really learn your place."

Naruto finally took his stance, "Well maybe you should come show me place." Suddenly he smirked, "Or you could get down on your knees like a good little branch member," Naruto added as he made a 'come hither' motion.

Neji's **Byakugan** flared to life as he blasted towards Naruto with shocking speed. He planned on putting Naruto down with a single palm strike to the heart.

Naruto remained planted as Neji approached. As his opponent threw his opening strike, Naruto calmly swept his wrist off course, sidestepped and planted his boot in the Hyuuga's side. Afterwards he performed a ** Shunshin** and prepared for round two.

 ** _In the stands:_**

As Naruto watched Neji catch his breath, the crowd was left trying to piece together what they just witnessed. One individual decided to make his confusion known, in a very vocal way.

"What the hell was that!" a teenage genin with two red markings, one under each cheek, practically shouted. This genin was Kiba Inuzuka, "When the hell did Naruto get so fast?!"

This was the same question that most of the residents of _Konoha_ were pondering. Only, they were doing so in a much quieter manner.

A few rows back was the duo known as _'The Eternal Gate Guards.'_ They were also known as Kotetsu Hagane and Izumo Kamizuki, two chunin who knew most of the ninja in the village thanks to their nickname.

"That was actually a pretty good strategy," Kotetsu said, after managing to recover his jaw from the floor.

Izumo gave his friend a sceptical look, "There wasn't much strategy to it, just a redirection of an extremely telegraphed shot."

"Yeah, besides Naruto is too much of a baka to come up with a strategy!" came the high pitched tone of a pink haired banshee sitting next to Kiba.

"WOULD YOU STOP SCREECHING EVERY DAMN TIME YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH?! Seriously, how does Sasuke put up with you?" Kiba yelled back while digging at his ears.

"Actually," Kotetsu interjected before Sakura could begin pounding Kiba, "The most important part of the strategy was before Neji even rushed him." Seeing everyone's confusion he decided to explain, "You, the banshee, you're Naruto's teammate correct?" After receiving a glare and a nod as a response he continued, "And have you ever seen him put down a comrade the way he did with his 'branch member' comment?"

Deciding to save what little hearing he still retained Kiba decided to answer first. "You know, he may be a loser and the dead last of our class, but I don't think I've ever seen Naruto retaliate that harshly..." Kiba tailed off trying to think of why Naruto would say something like that.

Instead of using her brain and figuring it out herself, Sakura decided to just ask, "So how is that suppose to be a strategy? All it did was piss Neji off and cause him to quit talking and attack instead."

"Actually Sakura, I think that may have been exactly what Naruto wanted," Kiba said as he finally seemed to see Naruto's thought process. "Correct me if I'm wrong guys, but with Neji so angry he wouldn't be thinking clearly and could make a mistake. Honestly, Naruto probably could've got a few more shots in but instead backed off. Either he didn't want to take the chance of overreaching and get caught up close with a Taijutsu specialist, or..." Kiba paused and looked to the two chunin

Kotetsu smiled and nodded, "Or what? Finish that thought kid."

Kiba smirked, "...Naruto is planning on humiliating Neji."

Sakura scoffed thinking Kiba was just trying to act smart, "Yeah right, that was just a lucky-"

She was cut off as Izumo decided to join the conversation again, "Actually pinky, I think the kid may be on to something here. While anger may cloud a persons mind, it also usually will cause a person to move faster and hit harder than they normally do. Which means your teammate just showed that he's faster than his opponent. Since he backed off like that, I think he may be planning to try proving he's better all around."

Kotetsu nodded, "It's a gamble, but if it pays off it will definitely improve his chances of getting promoted."

Izumo decided to squash any further comments, "Looks like the action is about to continue."

 ** _Back on the field:_**

Sure enough, Neji had just finished recovering from Naruto's kick to the Hyuuga's side. _'Where did that speed come from?'_

Genma was pretty impressed also, _'That's was definitely high chunin level speed. Taunting his opponent like that was a pretty good idea too, even if it was a low blow.'_

Naruto smirked as he decided to see if he could push Neji a little further, "Well if that's 'my place', then I have no complaints. Pretty sure you got the worst of that short exchange."

Neji grit his teeth before realizing what Naruto was doing. Taking a deep breath to calm himself he locked eyes with the blond. "A mistake that will not be happening again," he said before dashing towards Naruto again.

Naruto just took his stance again waiting for the second confrontation, "We'll see about that..." he tailed off watching his opponent come at him. Just before Neji reached him Naruto smirked, "Round two, fight!"

The crowd watched as Neji threw strike after strike at his opponent. Meanwhile, Naruto was simply dodging every blow. He knew that all of his opponents strikes were laced with chakra and even a light strike could close off his chakra points. Naruto had pulled out two kunai, one in each hand, and was using them you deflect any blow that came too close to hitting. He was using the flat edge of the blades, not wanting to actually cut him but instead just humiliate him a little before he decided to end things with Neji. Seeing an opening Naruto unleashed a devastating uppercut. To the crowd it seemed to connect and lift the Hyuuga prodigy into the air.

Naruto knew better seeing as he never felt the blow connect but played stupid since he was curious to see what Neji would do next. He even let the kick Neji threw connect with the underside of his chin

As soon as Neji landed he watched Naruto spit blood, "Now I'll show you the gap that a failure like you could never hope to close." As soon as his opponent locked eyes with him, Neji continued, "You are within my field of divination. **Gentle fist style:** **8 Trigrams: 64 palms!** " he said as he began striking all of Naruto's chakra points, effectively closing them.

Naruto was lifted off the ground as the last strike hit and thrown a few meters away. He lay motionless as his opponent approached his downed form.

Neji smirked as he looked towards Genma, "Proctor, he won't be getting up anytime soon, call the match."

Genma approached the middle of the field. "You should've ended the match when you had the chance kid," he said towards the downed blond. "The winner is-" he stopped as he heard chuckling and saw Naruto getting to his feet.

Once Naruto was standing he threw a small capsule at Neji who snatched it out of the air. "What is this?" the Hyuuga questioned. _'I can't believe he's back on his feet.'_ Speaking of feet, Neji's were suddenly grabbed by a pair of hands as the blond in front of him grinned before replying with a single word, "Blood." Afterwards 'Naruto' poofed into smoke signaling it to be a **Shadow Clone**.

Suddenly the ground exploded with blond haired genin that all converged on the seemingly trapped Hyuuga.

Just ass the crowd lost view of Neji they heard a sharp cry of **"Kaiten"** and saw a large spinning blue orb with shuriken flying out of it and striking the clones not destroyed by the technique. As the orb died down they saw Neji standing in the middle with a few scuff marks and a busted lip, but no Naruto.

That changed as Naruto quickly burst from the ground and slammed a fist in Neji's gut before elbowing him in the back of the head knocking the Hyuuga out cold.

Genma, who was surprised by the tactic, still had a smile on his face as he rose Naruto's arm, "Winner, Naruto Uzumaki!"

The crowd was silent, stunned at how the fight ended. After a moment that changed as the entire stadium erupted in cheers.

Genma released Naruto's arm before looking at the smiling blond, "Two questions kid. When did you make the switch and how did that clone not get destroyed earlier?"

"Well," Naruto began, happy that even the proctor missed it. "I made the switch right after our very first exchange. The reason no one saw it is because I made it underground using **Earth Style: Hiding like a mole**. Then I used a sealess, smokeless replacement with it. As far as how I made a **Shadow Clone** survive his 64 palm technique, I stayed under its feet and fed it a constant source of chakra until I lured him into a false sense of security."

The entire crowd had heard thanks to Genma using a jutsu to amplify their voices and were shocked at the level of thought that went into his plan, it was ingenious.

 ** _Kage Box:_**

As Naruto was walking off the field, Orichimaru disguised as the Kazekage looked over to the Hokage, "That is a very interesting boy you have there Hokage-dono." _'When did the Kyuubi boy become so powerful?'_

"I must say that I agree Kazekage-dono, Naruto-kun has always been full of surprises. I can't wait to see what other new tricks he has up his sleeves." Hiruzen smiled warmly as he watched Naruto approach the exit to make his way to the competitors seats. The old man may have been a program but most NPCs in safe zones were smart A.I. so they could form bonds.

 ** _Back with Naruto:_**

As Naruto entered the competitors box he noticed Kirito speaking with a girl with short hair, two bangs framing her face and a clip on each side to keep her hair from getting in her vision. It gradually got shorter until it was layered in spikes in the back. Her eyes matched her hair which was what initially caught his attention due to its color. _'Haven't seen blue hair before,"_ he thought.

His eyes scanning down, he noticed that she was dressed differently from any NPC he had seen so far. She had a black choker around her neck with a metal ring on it. She had on a dark-green, sleeveless, hodded jacket that was form fitting and only came down just below her ribs. She also had a black short sleeved shirt underneath that came just above her belly button.

Naruto blushed as he realized that it was also left slightly unzipped from the top showing a small amount of cleavage. _'Ugh! One month around Jiraiya and he's already rubbing off on me!'_ Moving on, Naruto saw that she was wearing shorts that came to just barely above her knees with her equipment pouch on the back of the waist band. She had boots that came halfway up her shin and black knee high socks underneath. Her shorts and boots were the same green as her jacket.

When he looked up, he noticed that she seemed to be studying him also just before they locked eyes and both suddenly had a very light tint of pink in their cheeks before looking away from one another. _'I didn't even know an NPC could blush,'_ Naruto thought as he got his hormones under control.

"Yo, earth to Naruto. This is ground control, come in Naruto."

The blond looked up to see Kirito standing in front of him with a half serious but still somehow amused look on his face. "Sorry, you say something Kirito, I was kinda spaced out there." he said, rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish smile.

His friend simply shook his head in response. "Okay, well I don't have much time since Sasuke hasn't shown up yet, so they pushed his match to last to give him more time," Kirito said before sighing and holding a hand up to cut off the blonds inevitable rant about his teammate receiving special treatment. "Relax, they did decide that since he couldn't be bothered to show up on time, that he would not be eligible for promotion."

Naruto 'tsked', "Well at least that's fair."

Kirito grinned at Naruto's antics, "Exactly, anyway, that means my match is up now." Suddenly, his face became serious, "By the way, that girl over there," he said pointing his thumb towards the blue haired girl behind him, "you need to go speak with her." Kirito began walking towards the stairs to head down for his match.

"Why?" Naruto asked, curious why his friend would want him too speak with the mystery girl.

Kirito answered over his shoulder, without breaking stride, "Because, she's not an NPC. She's a player like us and she's going to be our third teammate after these exams." He then disappeared down the stairs before Naruto could question him on it any further.

To say that Naruto was shocked, would be like saying that he only kind of liked ramen. He was floored by this information. He looked towards the girl in question and noticed she had approached him while he was watching his friend walk away. "Um..." he began awkwardly, "hi, I'm Naruto Uzumaki," he said, offering his hand to the girl.

She looked at the outstretched hand before her for a moment, before reaching out and taking it in her own slightly smaller hand and giving him a smile that made his knees a little weak. "I'm Sinon, nice to meet you Naruto. So, Kirito and I didn't get much time to talk after he realized I wasn't an NPC, he said you could fill me in on the situation with you two."

Naruto sighed, "Well take a seat then, by the time I finish it'll probably be about time for your fight. I suggest paying attention to Kiritos's fight also if you can, he'll most likely be your next opponent as long as you win your fight."

 ** _Thirty_** ** _minutes later:_**

"So let me get this straight," Sinon began after Naruto had finished his story, telling her a brief nicer version of his story since being staying the game. "You were in an accident while beta testing ENO on a private server in the back seat of your parents car and entered a coma, trapping your mind here until you recover but you also have amnesia?" When Naruto nodded she continued, "And Kirito, who is your best friend in real life connected to your game to protect you from dying because there's a chance you'd never recover of you did die?"

Naruto simply nodded again, "Yeah that's all I know right now. Kirito hasn't told me anything about myself hoping that something in the game will trigger my memory and hopefully help me wake up."

Sinon gave him a sad smile, _'He's so strong, I'd be a wreak if I was him.'_ "I'm sorry to hear that, but I'm glad you're holding up so well." She then stood up from the wall the two players had been sitting against and offered her hand to the blond to help him to his feet. "I've decided," she said, pulling the boy up after he accepted her hand, "since you're the only other players here and I would feel guilty if anything happened to you two, I'm gonna switch villages and team up with you guys after these exams. It'll be no big deal since all my stats will transfer. I'll lose my jinchuriki status since you already have that role and there's only one in this village, but that just means I can focus on my other skills, plus I should get a refund on the points I've invested in my jinchuriki skill line."

Naruto looked at the girl in shock before his eyes started watering and he threw his arms around the girl muttering 'thank you' over and over while she rubbed his back. _'Maybe he's not holding up quite as well as it seemed, but still considering his circumstances, he could be a lot worse.'_ Sinon thought, not even realizing that she had seemingly forgotten about her mild fear of men.

"Winner of the third match by forfeit, Kirito Uchia!" the two suddenly heard.

Glancing down to the arena Sinon realized she had missed most of the fight. She then gave Naruto a playful glare, "Now you've made me miss his fight and I won't know what he's capable of."

Naruto had the decency to look apologetic. "I'm sorry, I'm sure if I ask him and explain that I distracted you he'll ignore your fight so he won't have any advantage over you." he said, rubbing the back of his head and giving her a foxy grin.

Sinon suddenly brightened up, "That's fair enough I guess."

Naruto nodded, "Well you better get down there since your up next." The girl smiled and nodded, turning towards the stairs and walking off. "Good luck Sinon," he called after her. She simply responded with a wave over her head and a nod to Kirito as she passed the dark haired boy.

 _'Huh, so he's a sword user? He must have left them unequipped until he was on the field, smart thinking_ she thought after seeing the crossed swords on his back.

Kirito approached his grinning friend and waved a hand in front of his face, "Wow Naruto, you just met her and you're already head over heels?"

The blond player glared at his friend for a second before turning away, "I am not! She's simply a nice person and I appreciate her assistance!" _'Although she is pretty, and she's so nice'_ He thought with a small blush.

Kirito noticed the blush but decided he'd tease his friend more later. He placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder, "So? She gonna join us?" Receiving a nod in response as they both watched their new ally walk onto the field, they both leaned against the wall, "Well let's see what she's capable of and we can start thinking of team dynamics."

"Good idea, but I kinda distracted her from your fight and said I'd ask you to ignore hers so you wouldn't have an unfair advantage of she wins. If Shika wins I'll tell you all about him." Naruto explained rubbing his head.

"Damn it, I guess that's fair. If I beat her, I don't want it to be because had an advantage." Kirito said as he turned and faced the wall before accessing his menu.

 ** _In the arena:_**

Sinon watched as he opponent lazily approached the center of the field muttering something under his breath. The only thing the girl caught was 'troublesome'.

The proctor eyed both genin, "Are both fighters ready?" After receiving a nod from both sides he raised his arm above his head, "Then let the fourth match of the chunin exams begin. Sinon vs Shikamaru Nara," he said before quickly slashing his hand downwards, "Fight!"

Sinon pulled out a kunai in each hand and was about to rush the boy before she saw him make a handsign and his shadow came racing towards her. She reacted quickly jumping to the side and throwing both kunai towards her opponent. The moment he reacted to dodge, his shadow retreated. _'Glad to know he has to remain stationary to use that ability,'_ she thought as she reached into her pouch and pulled out a few smoke bombs and throwing them at her feet to buy some time.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes before throwing a kunai straight through the smoke as he put a little distance between himself and the girl. Suddenly, multiple shuriken came out of the smoke towards the lazy genius. He blocked most with a kunai as a few went slightly wide. Fortunately for him, he noticed the wires attached to them almost immediately and hit the ground turning his head to the side and watching as the projectiles passed through the area his body had been occupying a moment prior.

As the smoke cleared it revealed that Sinon had also layed down, likely to avoid any projectiles she figured would be thrown. She grumbled as she got up, "Pretty perceptive of you to notice those wires."

Shikamaru smirked, "Well I doubt I'd have made it this far if I wasn't. Troublesome exams."

Sinon nodded, "True," she said before giving a devious smile. "Too bad you didn't notice the back up plan." The boys eyes went wide as another smoke bomb went off right in front of him. The diversion gave Sinon the chance to stent closing the distance with the boy while she threw four kunai in front of her hoping to catch him with one. She heard metal on metal directly in front of her as she entered the smoke and came out the other side to see him with his hands in his seal again and his shadow approaching her. She leapt high over him and twisted in mid air so she'd be facing him as she landed.

The boy had to duck under a quick swipe of her long nails but couldn't react fast enough to dodge the follow up for that launched him away. He did however smirk as he activated an explosive tag he had laid on his location incase she had passed his technique.

Sinon's eyes went wide as she heard the sizzling of the tag and had to pull a quick replacement to escape any serious damage. When she reappeared even further away she had a few singe marks on her outfit and smoke coming off her. She quickly noticed two things. First, the Nara's shadow was directly in front of her and she had no time to dodge. Fortunately, the second thing she noticed was his shadow stop inches from her own. _'That was far too close! But at least know I know the limit to how far he can reach.'_

The fight quickly became a battle of wits and reflexes with neither fighter being able to gain an advantage until Shikamaru tried his using his shadow again.

Sinon quickly jumped back to what she thought to be a safe distance, "I've already figured out your limit, you won't catch me-" she was interrupted as his shadow did indeed catch her. "Wha...but...how?"

Shikamaru simply sighed and shook his head as he pulled out a kunai groom the pouch on his leg with her mimicking his motion, only her pouch was on her backback, meaning she was empty handed. "It's a shadow, it's gonna get longer as it gets later in the day. Now, seeing as I've got you trapped and I could easily cripple you, how about you give up so I don't have to hurt you?" he asked as he reared back and took aim.

Sinon smirked and shook her head as she began channeling a tiny bit of her bijuu chakra, "I can't do that if I'm gonna win this exam now can I? I do find it cute however that you think you have me," she said with a laugh.

Shikamaru frowned, "Well at least I tried," he said as he let the projectile fly towards the girl. When it reached her however, he was stunned to feel his connection break as she simply caught the kunai with her finger through the ring without budging. "Well that's it for me, I forfeit," he said stunning both his opponent and the crowd. "I'm almost out of chakra and besides, that's my best move. With how easily you broke out, I'm clearly out classed." He then turned and began waking towards the exit.

The proctor finally seemed to get his bearings, "Well... that was an anticlimactic finish." He sighed, then let out a small chuckle, "should've expected that from a Nara though," he said under his breath before addressing the crowd. "Winner of the fourth match, Sinon!"

The crowd cheered, despite the ending it was still a good fight. As she was making her way off the field she heard the sign of someone using a **Shunshin** behind her. She glanced back to see who she assumed to be the final fighter along with what appeared to be his sensei near the proctor. _'Bout damn time he showed up.'_

 ** _A few minutes later with the boys:_**

Naruto and Kirito were watching as Sasuke's fight began. He was fighting a boy named Gaara, who Naruto had informed his friend controlled sand to fight. So far it was seeming like a pretty close, fast-paced fight. They were distracted by the sound of approaching footsteps.

The boys turned to see Naruto's sensei, Kakashi Hatake. "I see you can't even be bothered to have your student on time for something important like this Kakashi," Naruto said.

The copy nin froze at noticing his student had dropped the title, "Don't you mean 'Kakashi-sensei' Naruto?"

Naruto glared at the silver haired jonin, "Maybe if you had taught me anything other than tree walking and teamwork exercises with a team that will never cooperate with me? No, over the past month I've seen what a true sensei is like."

Kakashi eyed Naruto for a moment, before sighing and walking away to find his other genin.

Naruto merely glanced back at the fight to see that Gaara had encased himself in a dome of sand and Sasuke was standing on the wall with lightning coming from his hand, "Figures that he'd teach the 'Golden Boy' his signature technique."

Kirito let out a laugh beside him, "Well look on the bright side, thanks to having to activate my ** Sharingan** to watch this fight accurately, I now know the hand seals for it."

Before the blond could respond they heard a voice from behind them, " **Sharingan** huh?" They turned to see Sinon leaning against the wall behind them. "That's good info to have if you're me," she said smugly.

Kiritos's 'tsked', "That's just great, I know nothing about you. Yet you now have info on me. I should learn to keep my mouth shut."

Naruto grinned beside him before giving him a slight elbow to the ribs, "Yeah, you really should." He then let out a laugh seeing his friend crouched in a corner with dark clouds over his head. The blond focused on his new friend again, "Well one things for certain, I now know that it'll be a good fight no matter which of you makes it to the finals."

The lone female of the group gained a small blush at the compliment and smiled, "Thanks Naruto, I look forward to meeting you in the finals after I deal with the baby over there." She motioned towards the skulking form of Kirito at the insult.

Before the black haired boy could yell at the duo for Sinon making fun of him and Naruto laughing, he was interrupted by a loud scream. As all three looked towards the fight again they saw a sand arm shoot out of the dome. Shortly after they noticed feathers falling from the sky.

"Genjutsu," Kirito said as he and his friends dispelled it immediately and noticed an explosion come from the Kage box just as dozens of sound and sand nin stormed the exam stadium. Kirito had to grab Naruto by the arm before the blond could take off towards his village leader. "Naruto, Gaara was taken by two sand nin from the stadium and Sasuke took off after them alone. We need to back him up and then focus on clearing the mobs that are probably in the village right now."

Naruto took a deep breath and got himself under control, "Yeah you're right, Hokage-Jiji can take care of himself much better than Sasuke-teme." Both boys took off in the direction the Uchia had left in.

"Is this seriously an invasion?" Sinon asked the obvious from behind them.

Both boys were socked for a moment, Kirito regained his composure just before Naruto. "Obviously, if you want to join us great. Just be aware that Naruto has the worst luck when it comes to opponents so this is probably going to be extremely dangerous." He wanted to make sure the girl knew what she was getting into.

Sinon just rolled her eyes, "That's exactly why I'm coming, who else is going to look out for you two?"

The boys shared a quick look before grinning. "I feel safer already," Naruto told her holding his fist out for a bump, "glad you have you watching my back."

The lone female bumped the offered fist with her own before giving a small, "Pleasures all mine," she said. "Now lets chase us down a fellow jinchuriki."

 ** _Later in the forest:_**

After chasing down their target and handling the distractions caused by the two sand nin trying to stall the group of players, they finally caught up to see Sasuke and Sakura being tossed around by what looked like a human sized raccoon made of sand.

Landing on the branch beside his previous teammates, Naruto cast them a quick glance. "We'll take it from here, go help with the evacuation of the civilians," the blond tried telling them, hoping they would listen.

He realized a moment later that it was a waste of his breath. "Yeah right loser, as if you could handle him," Sasuke said, glaring daggers at the blond.

Defending the arrogant Uchia, Sakura threw a punch at Naruto to shut him up. "Yeah, if Sasuke-kun had trouble what makes you think a dead last like you can do better?!" she screeched.

When her punch connected, 'Naruto' burst into smoke revealing the blond in front of them to be simply a clone. Suddenly, both were knocked unconscious from behind.

As they fell to the branch they were caught by two more blonds. "Figured that's how that would go, don't know why I bothered trying."

Afterwards the blond focused on the rampaging jinchuriki and began working with his friends to try and neutralize him before he could get away and do serious damage. After a few minutes of fighting and seemingly making very little progress, besides Naruto managing to shove a kunai in the sand raccoons rear end, the sand nin fully released his inner demon and towered over the trio.

Sinon grimaced as she realised how dangerous the situation had become, "Great, and just how the hell are we suppose to beat that freaking thing?!"

Naruto just gave her a grin, "I'll show you how lil lady." Ignoring the expletives thrown at him, he bit his thumb and flew through hand seals, focusing a massive amount of chakra and slamming his hand down as his two friends landed beside his and he shouted " **Summoning Jutsu!** "

Suddenly, there was a massive burst of smoke and when it cleared Sinon saw that they were now eye level with the towering beast. She looked down and saw that they were on a giant toads head! _'Seriously, not only is he a jinchuriki, but he also has a summoning contact?!'_

The chief toad took one look at the bijuu across from him and grit his teeth, **"Seriously gaki? You're summoning me to fight Shukaku?!"**

Naruto started sweating slightly, "I'm really sorry Bunta, but I just need a few minutes to discuss my plan with my friends and then we'll be finished. Five minutes of your time boss, please." The giant toad grumbled an agreement before leaping into battle. Turning to address his friends Naruto began laying out a plan, making sure to include his summon so he would know his part. Bunta even informed the blond how waking Gaara should force Shukaku back in the young jinchuriki.

Finally prepared they all readied their assault. "Alright chief, you know what to do, bring the oil and Neko will bring the fire," Naruto said as he and Kirito prepared to do their parts.

 _'Neko eh? I kinda like it,'_ Sinon thought as she prepared to launch her strongest fire release. At the same time as the summon shot a ' **Toad oil bullet** ' she called out, " **Fire style: Twin Dragons** "

As the two techniques merged, the boys called in unison, " **Wind style: Great Breakthrough!** "

The roaring flames instantly tripled in size just before colliding with the sand bijuu from the shoulders down. They didn't want to kill Gaara, even if he had tried to unleash Shukaku on the village.

 **"GAH!! WHEN I GET OUT OF THIS I'M GOING TO KILL YOU ALL!"** Shukaku roared. When the group saw him again his body was covered in glass from the shoulders down.

Just as the glass was beginning to break, Shukaku heard a voice from above, "Well I guess it's a good thing that you won't be getting out today!"

The bijuu looked up just in time to see a blond haired missile collide with it. More specifically, he collided with the sleeping jinchuriki located on its forehead. **"No I just got out!"** it screamed as the glass finished breaking and the sand began falling to the ground.

Acting quickly, Bunta caught both his summoner and the dazed and beaten Ichibi container on his tongue. Naruto quickly knocked his fellow jinchuriki out, tied him up and jumped back to his summons head to see only Sinon and the other two sand nin who they had captured earlier.

"Where's-" and the Kirito appeared with the unconscious forms of Sasuke and Sakura. "Never mind," he said with a grin. "Bunta, if you could get us back to the village so we can help fight off the invasion that's all I'll ask of you today."

 **"You got it gaki,"** the summon said before leaping towards the hidden leaf village. Once inside the village Bunta got ready to leave, **"You did good today, you definitely impressed me...Naruto."** Before the blond could respond, the giant toad disappeared in a poof of smoke. After handing over the three prisoners and then handing his former teammates over to a genin squad that was retreating to the bunkers, before he and his two new teammates could rush to defend the village, a hand landed on his shoulder.

Turning around, Naruto saw the proctor of the first part of the exams with the proctor of the second part beside him. "You three should head for the bunkers also. It's not safe out here for genin like yourself."

All three players shared a glance before laughing and turning back towards the man. "Excuse me scarface, but did you just finish destroying a freaking bijuu?" he asked the man with a knowing smirk.

When the man shook his head, Kirito was the one to respond, "Then you just let us do our job of repelling these invaders." The interrogator breathed a heavy sigh but nodded his head.

All three turned towards the village, Naruto glanced towards his right to see Kirito smiling and cracking his knuckles. "You ready?" he asked knowing the answer he'd receive. He wasn't let down, as the other boy simply gave him a look and proceeded to pull his twin swords from his back. Naruto then glanced to his left to find his newest ally absentely spinning a kunai by the ring. "You gonna continue fighting by our side Sinon?"

The girl glanced at him and gave a smile that was too innocent to be believed given their surroundings. "Do you really need to ask knucklehead?"

Naruto laughed and shook his head. "Well then," he began as he looked back at the burning village, "let's go wild guys!" He gave a huge grin as they all three leapt off the building to defend the village and gain some experience in the process.

 **And that's a wrap on the chunin exams guys. So far I'm leaving most things the same with just a few changes. Fear not though, things will start changing lil by lil. Next chapter will be a quick breeze through the aftermath of the invasion, Sinon's transfer to Konoha, and we'll at the very least begin the Tsunade retrieval arc, if not finishing it.** **Leave me reviews people, what did you like if anything stuck out? What do you think needs work? Chances are, if you didn't like something, you're probably not the only person. As far as Kirito's and Sinon's fights go, I realize that they were kind of lacking, 'kind of' being the biggest possible understatement in Kirito's case. This is because I mainly wanted to focus on the difference with Naruto in this chapter. They will both get their spotlights very soon, so please be patient. Well that's all for this week folks, Taz is signing out.**


	4. Cognizance

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto or SAO, but hey, a guy can dream right?**

 ** _Cognizance:_**

Over the next three weeks, time seemed to fly by and quickly became routine. The morning after repelling the invaders Sinon changed villages right after breakfast. It was a fairly smooth affair, especially since plenty of leaf nin witnessed the blue-haired girl helping their village. Fortunately, she had received a one-time refund of the points she had invested into her jinchuriki skills.

Afterwards, the trio spent the majority of their time doing D-rank missions that consisted of helping to rebuild the village. They had decided that forty percent of their profits from missions would go in a squad account. This would be used for anything from getting the three a proper home to share, to everyone doing repairs and upgrades when needed. Since Naruto could spam **Shadow Clones** like they were going out of style and send them to complete lots of menial tasks, their squad account had grown rather quickly. It had only taken them two days before gathering the funds to get a house with some space for the three friends. Kirito and Sinon had agreed that Naruto would get their share of the mission funds for the missions he soloed.

Then, there was their training. They had actually improved their teamwork quite impressively since joining forces and realized that they all covered each others weaknesses nicely. Sadly their targets for training were mostly ** Shadow Clone** mobs. The bright side, was that since learning about the shared memories, Naruto could quickly point out any weaknesses.

Kirito was mainly a very fast-paced damage dealer with his twin swords and his swift release, but he couldn't take very many hits. Normally that wouldn't be any issue, but against tougher opponents his speed may not be enough.

Sinon was mainly a ranged player and would bombard her enemies with projectiles and occasionally explosives from a distance. The boys had even convinced her to try her hand at archery, even though it wasn't a skill by itself. Fortunately, other skills did affect her shooting and she quickly became a crack shot with her bow. Unfortunately, she lost her biggest weapon when in hand to hand combat; her nails were a side affect of her jinchuriki status beforehand.

Then there was Naruto, if his friends were honest, he only really had one weakness still. It seemed he would never get a good grasp on genjutsu. He still needed some more ways to attack from a distance, but for now they were pretty confident that Sinon would keep that department locked down. He still couldn't keep up with Kirito's speed, but he made up for it with the amount of damage he could take. Simply put, Naruto was a tank. With his healing factors from being a jinchuriki along with another unknown healing buff, he just recovered health too quickly for most opponents. He could also pull out some amazing combos when using his clones.

All together they made a very well rounded team with very few weaknesses. All three had been making great progress lately. They did notice on their few trips outside the village to fight mobs of bandits, that the enemies seemed to be getting stronger and smarter just as fast.

Today however, they were taking their first day off since the invasion and Naruto was nowhere to be found. Sinon had already logged out for the night and returned the day the boys were taking a break.

After finding Kirito at home and questioning him, Sinon began searching for their blond haired friend. She was kind of annoyed that Kirito brushed his absence off, preferring to nap on the couch instead. _'I can't believe he can be so lazy and yet so strong,'_ she thought as she checked Naruto's favorite ramen shop. After being told by the owner that they hadn't seen the blond today and running into Jiraiya who was also looking for Naruto, she began searching the teams normal training areas with no success. Finally it hit her, _'The Hokage monument_ she thought before taking off towards the stone faces.

 ** _On top of the fourths head:_**

Naruto was finally dealing with the emotions of losing the Third Hokage. He had already cried until his eyes became dry and was now sitting in his favorite spot in the village with a solemn expression.

"Naruto..." he heard from behind him. He had felt Sinon approaching long ago. She walked beside him and sat down. They sat in silence for a few minutes before it was broken by the girl, "Are you okay? I've been looking for you since logging back in."

Naruto tried to smile as he turned to her, "I'm fine, just enjoying the view."

Unfortunately for the blond, his companion could see that his smile didn't reach his eyes. She frowned at the fake smile. "Don't lie to me Naruto," he saw his smile falter before she continued, "I have too much experience faking emotions for others benefit. Now talk to me please, or at least talk to Kirito."

Naruto looked down as his eyes somehow began watering again. "I know it sounds dumb," he said as his eyes turned towards the Third's face, "but I miss him." He looked back and saw that his friend had concern in her eyes. "Until Kirito came, Hiruzen was the only happiness I had here besides the Ichirakus. This may just be a game, but from my perspective, this has been my life for six years."

"Naruto," she said as her eyes began watering as well. "I may not fully understand your situation but," she took a breath as she seemed to gather her confidence. "I do understand somewhat where you're coming from. I...I need more time before I can tell you guys the full story, but let's just say that Kirito and you are my only friends..."

Suddenly Naruto's hand was on hers, she looked up from their hands to see that, while there was still sadness in his eyes, his smile seemed to finally reach his big blue eyes. "Thank you Sinon. It really means a lot to me that you care. As soon as you feel up to it, I would be happy to learn more about you. Take all the time you need, and no matter what happens, know that I will always be here for you, you've become one of my precious people Sinon."

His words seemed to break her and suddenly he was the one providing emotional support for her. She tackle hugged him as the proverbial damn broke open. After a few minutes of hugging her back and rubbing her back he heard her again. "Promise me that you'll always be my friend?"

Finally he gave a genuine smile as they sat up, "Sinon, I promise that I will always be here for you and that you'll never again feel alone. It's the promise of a lifetime and I never go back on my promises because that's my ninja way."

Sinon felt a warmth spread through her as she stared into his blue eyes and at his smile. She leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder and they sat there for a few minutes before she remembered the other person, well the NPC, that had been looking for her blond. _'Wait, MY blond, when did that start?_ "I almost forgot," she said as she sat up straight blushing slightly from her thoughts. "Jiraiya ran into me earlier and was looking for you, he said something about a mission and to meet him at the front gate at noon."

Naruto perked up at the idea of getting out of the village. "Well then," he said as he stood up and offered her a hand, "lets go get our lazy teammate and see what the old perv wants."

She took the offered hand and stood up, "I swear, I can't understand how Kirito is so strong."

Naruto looked shocked at her statement, "I thought it was just me that couldn't figure that out?!" They both stated laughing before realizing they were still holding hands. Naruto quickly withdrew his hand and they both looked away at the same time, both missing the blush on the others face. "S-sorry about that," he sputtered out.

"I-Its okay," she said obviously just as flustered.

 ** _Later at the gate:_**

As the three players were approaching the gate, conversing between themselves, they were suddenly caught off guard when a poof of smoke appeared in front of them. "Thanks for telling your boyfriend about meeting me, but I'm afraid I only need him."

While Sinon looked away blushing, Naruto folded his arms on his chest and narrowed his eyes at the Toad Sage. "These are my teammates, where one of us goes, we all go," he said with steel in his voice.

Jiraiya sighed, "Look gaki, this is time sensitive. I don't have time to babysit."

Kirito narrowed his own eyes at the man, "I thought I told you already, we don't need your supervision. We're coming with him whether you like it or not." Sinon, after recovering from her thoughts, joined the boys in their defiant stance.

Jiraiya finally gave up, "Fine, but I'm only teaching Naruto," he said as he turned to walk away.

"Fine by me," Kirito and Sinon said in unison as the three followed Jiraiya out the village.

 ** _After an hour of walking:_**

Jiraiya looked to Naruto, "Pop this by focusing your chakra in your hand. Once you do that I'll show you the second step to learning a unique jutsu," he said as he placed a balloon in the blonds hand.

After about two minutes of walking the whole group stopped as they heard a loud pop. Everyone looked to Naruto, "Step two please," he said as he flicked water off of his hand while grinning.

 ** _Later in a nearby town:_**

Jiraiya had sent Naruto and his team to a hotel they would be staying the night in and left chasing a woman who had shown interest in the Sannin. Currently they were all sitting in the same room talking about training while Naruto was working on the second step to his new jutsu.

 **'BANG'** , all three jumped before looking to see the rubber ball in Naruto's hand had exploded. Just then, they felt a foreign, yet familiar chakra spike.

Naruto and his friends turned to the door. "Sinon, suppress your chakra as best as you can, go out the window and find Jiraiya. If the source of that chakra is hostile, we have no chance without the perv."

She nodded and made her way to the window before stopping, "Naruto," she called out. When he turned to her she continued, "Don't forget your promise to me."

He grinned, "I wouldn't dream of it." She nodded and hoped out the window. He turned towards his remaining teammate, "Go out the window and enter through another room, come up behind him incase we need a surprise attack. I'll have a **Shadow Clone** distract the person if possible." Kirito nodded and left via the window just as there was a knock on the door. _'Shit, that's too close to use a clone. The person will feel the chakra.'_

He got up and approached the door, one hand holding his new trench knives behind his leg with a flash tag in the hand he used to open the door. He came face to face with an older version of Sasuke and a person who looked like a shark with blue skin and gills. They were matching black cloaks with red clouds.

"Naruto Uzumaki?" asked the shark man.

The blond narrowed his eyes, "What's it to ya fish face?"

"Please, come with us Naruto," the older Sasuke said staring into Naruto's eyes with his **Sharingan** active.

The teen rolled his eyes, "Well, when you ask while trying to place me in a genjutsu, it makes me really not wanna go Itachi. But I'll come quietly under one condition."

Both men narrowed their eyes, "What's that kid?" 'Fish face' asked. Naruto grinned, closed his eyes and just as the flash tag went off, held it out to blind them.

"Say cheese bitches!"

Suddenly both were kicked in the stomach. Itachi managed to get a small guard up, but it still felt like being hit with a tree. Kisame grunted but tanked the blow as his sword came around to defend him from more shots.

Itachi, after his vision cleared had Kisame back off, "I'll take care of this, he's just delaying for Jiraiya." He then vanished faster than Naruto could react and picked the boy up by his collar to place him in a strong genjutsu.

Before he got the chance, Naruto spit in his eyes and replaced himself with a broom and fled out the window of the hotel room with Kisame hot on his trail. Just as Itachi was about to give chase he found a kunai pressed hard against his jugular and one against his spine. "Flinch and I'll bleed you dry," came the cold voice behind him.

Itachi calmed down, "You must me Kirito Uchia?" The elder dojutsu user scattered into crows before stabbing the boy from behind, "You're out of your league here kid."

Suddenly the younger Uchia poofed into smoke as the elder was hit in the back of the knees with an arrow each. Immediately afterwards a hole was blasted in the wall behind Itachi and Jiraiya appeared just as Sinon was reloading her bow and glaring at the Akatsuki member. "Where is Naruto-kun?!" she demanded.

Just after Itachi Uchia, S-rank missing min who massacred his clan in a single night, felt a shiver run down his spine, a blond and battered missile came bursting back into the hall followed by Kisame. "Kisame lets go, we're leaving!" he said as his partner helped him make their escape.

Naruto decided to taunt them a little as they ran, "And don't come back ya pussies!" Then he passed out as his friends ran to his side.

Jiraiya came walking back a moment later from trying to catch the two nin, "Bastards got away." Then he took in the blonds condition, _'Kids lucky to have survived against a tank like Ol' Fish Face.'_ "Kirito, carry the idiot, we're gonna need a different hotel."

 ** _The next day:_**

Naruto groaned as he began to stir. Then he noticed that his pillow was warm and steadily rising and falling. His eyes snapped open and he noticed the slender arms wrapped protectively around his chest. He looked up and blushed when he saw Sinon leaned up against the wall just as she opened her eyes and looked down at him with a light blush.

Then just as Naruto was about to make an excuse to get up, she started crying. He reached up and placed a hand on her cheek, "Hey, no tears Sinon-chan. Look at me, I'm fine thanks to you."

 _'When did he start adding the chan?'_ she wondered, _'not that I didn't add a 'kun' to his name yesterday.'_ Then she stopped crying and glared down at him, "Fine?" she asked with an edge to her voice.

He visibly gulped, "Well, I'm alive." _'For now,'_ he added as an afterthought while looking at her angry look.

She relaxed slightly, "You scared me." She relaxed more thinking of the emotions she felt after seeing the blond in such a broken state. "I thought we were going to lose you there for a moment," she said quietly.

He smiled up at her and lightly flicked her forehead before sitting against the wall next to her and wrapping an arm around her as she relaxed into his chest. "Silly Sinon, I made you a promise didn't I?" He felt her smile at the reminder before she mumbled something. "What was that?"

She looked up at him, "Shino Asada, that's my real name. You can't keep your promise once you're out of here if you don't know that." She then laid her head back on his chest, "By the way, this doesn't mean anything other than I was concerned about you."

They laid there for a few minutes before Shino felt him stiffen and his breathing increased. "Naruto? What's wrong?" she asked as she saw a glazed over look in his eyes for a moment.

Just as quickly it cleared away and he met her eyes. "My name is Naruto Namikaze, and I think I just remembered everything!"

 ** _Kirito and Jiraiya's room:_**

They had just been discussing how long to wait before waking the couple in the next room she they heard a shout.

"KAZUTO! Get over here now!" they heard Sinon shout.

Kirito instantly vanished off his bed and was in Sinon's room a second later. "Where did you hear that name?!" Then he saw Naruto smiling with his arm around the girl, _'I'll ask later.'_ "Please tell me it's true!" he said with a hopeful smile.

Naruto nodded, "Pleased to see ya again Kazuto Kirigaya."

"Aw man, you shouldn't go using my real name?"

Shino realized why he said that before Naruto could. She stuck out her hand and smiled, "Pleased to officially meet you Kazuto, I'm Shino Asada."

Kazuto sighed but smiled and shook her hand. "So what triggered your memories?"

Naruto started thinking, "To be honest, I'm not a hundred percent sure. We were sitting here talking and I just felt at peace since the first time since, well ever as far as I could remember. Then it all came back to me."

Kazuto nodded, "Maybe you're mind was just able to relax and drift." Then he realized something, "Wait, can you log out now?"

Naruto's eye's widened for a moment before he thought for a moment. "Shino-chan, you've got a few more days of in game time right?" She nodded into his chest and he continued, "How about we wait till this mission is complete? It'll only take a few more hours real time and I kind of want to finish learning the **Rasengan** that way it'll be easier once my dad releases the full version of this game." This shocked Shino but she noticed something before she could question the blond.

Kazuto flinched and looked down, "Um, we kind of need to talk about the accident Naruto. It may be a good idea if this was private."

As Shino started to get up she felt Naruto's breathing hitch and his grip around her waist tighten. She looked back at his pleading eyes and felt her heart ache, "I'll stay if you want Naruto-kun." He nodded and she wrapped her arm around him again as she leaned back into his chest. _'He's so warm,'_ she thought.

Seeing that Naruto wanted her present Kazuto sighed and looked away, "Naruto, there's really no earty way to say this." Kazuto paused to collect his thoughts.

Naruto had tears in his eyes as he had already assumed the worst. "They didn't make it did they?" he asked as he felt Shino's grip tighten.

Kazuto shook his head as all three started crying. He took a seat on the bed and placed his had on Naruto's shoulder as the blond and Shino both sobbed.

Finally, after around ten minutes Naruto spoke with a shaky voice, "What am I going to do now?"

Before Kazuto could mention his mother being Naruto's godmother, Shino spoke up. "You can stay with me until you figure something out. I won't let my first friend be homeless."

Both became a wreck again before Kazuto could say anything. _'I'll tell him later,'_ "I'm gonna go get Jiraiya and we'll check out, meet us downstairs when you're ready."

 ** _Later in Tanzaku:_**

After Shino helped Naruto calm down the group of four had left towards Tsunade's last known location. Jiraiya sensing that something was wrong decided Naruto would talk to him if he felt the need and started his apprentice on the next step of the **Rasengan** , combining the first two steps and containing it within an aired up balloon. After a few hours of walking they arrived in Tanzaku, a small village on the edge of the land of fire, known mainly for its bars and gambling halls.

They had been searching the bars and casinos for a few hours already. "We'll check this last bar, if she's not here we'll pick back up the search tomorrow," Jiraiya told them.

Naruto nodded numbingly while the other two gave an 'Okay.' Walking in, he instantly spotted their target and was about to point to her before Jiraiya laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Tsunade!" he called out.

The busty blond looked up at the Toad Sannin, "Jiraiya? What are you doing here? And what's with the brats, don't tell me you took on another team after your last ones all died."

The group walked over and pulled up another table to join the Slug Sannin. "Nope, just the blond. The other two are his teammates and I needed my new apprentice for a mission."

Tsunade quirked an eyebrow, "Another apprentice so soon after the last one wasted his life like his predecessors?"

The entire bar was instantly flooded with enough killing intent that most almost passed out. Everyone looked to Naruto as he glared at his fellow blond with red slit eyes, "You may wanna take that back. That's my father you're talking about bitch!"

Jiraiya and Tsunade both almost had a heart attack on the spot before Naruto calmed down a little, red eyes shifting back to blue. _'When and how did he find out?!'_ they both were thinking.

Naruto held up a hand, "You're questions aren't important to me. Right now I just wanna get back to the village, and you're coming old lady, whether you like it or not. They've decide that you're the Fifth Hokage"

Tsunade snapped out of the trance her and Jiraiya had been in, "And what makes you think I'd accept the position? All of the Hokage have been fools who have thrown away their lives for that village!"

 ** _Seconds later outside:_**

Civilians were waking by enjoying the festival that was going on. When suddenly a blond woman came crashing through a window and into the street. She was quickly followed by a orange blur.

The blur turned out to be Naruto as he held Tsunade down by her throat, his jinchuriki cloak with two trails surrounding him. "You have until tomorrow to get your affairs in order, then we're leaving. **UNDERSTOOD?!** "

She nodded as he let her go and stormed off towards a hotel, his teammates in tow. Shizune, Tsunade's apprentice, rushed to her master and began healing her throat of the chakra burns. Once healed, and with Jiraiya staring after his apprentice, Tsunade spoke up quietly. "Meet with Kabuto tonight, tell him I need to see his master at first light."

 ** _The next day:_**

Naruto and his team were in the hotel eating breakfast when Jiraiya came stumbling in.

Kazuto smirked at the sage, "Have a good night?!" he asked loudly figuring Jiraiya was having a killer hangover.

Naruto looked up at the Sannin before returning to his meal, "If you call a 'good night' being drugged by Tsunade then I'm sure his answer will be yes."

Jiraiya and Kazuto were shocked, "How could you possibly know that?" they asked in unison.

Shino eyed the blond for a moment before standing up, "You're a clone," she stated more than asked. 'Naruto' nodded, so she continued, "Where's your boss?"

Standing and stretching he turned towards the group, "Observing the discussion between the Slug and the Snake pedophile. Follow me and we should make it before the end of the inevitable clash." He then threw a vital towards Jiraiya, "Stole the antidote out of her bag, that should clear you right up."

 ** _At the site of the meeting:_**

Naruto was watching as Tsunade was trying to pulverize Orichimaru. He had offered to bring her ex and her little brother from the dead if she healed the damage to his arms, courtesy of the Third. Suddenly, Kabuto stepped in front of the snake, pulled out a kunai and... _'Did he seriously just stab his own hand?'_ Naruto wondered, until he saw Tsunade freeze and get knocked away by Orichimaru. Shizune began guarding her master from Kabuto as Orichimaru taunted Tsunade, _'What kind of fucking medic is afraid of blood?!'_ Naruto screamed in his head.

 **"Just get down there before both of those worthless humans die!"** Kyuubi screamed back at him, **"Or don't, I couldn't care less as long as you shut up."**

Naruto grumbled as he prepared a completed **Rasengan** to use on Kabuto and rushed in to save the two women. _'To be honest, since Kazuto arrived I'd kind of forgotten about your furry ass!'_

 ** _Kabuto vs Shizune_**

Kabuto smirked as he approached the beaten young medic with his **Chakra Scalpel** , "Well that was a nice little warm up, but I'm afraid our time together is at an end." He reached back to thrust the killing blow.

Suddenly, Naruto was in his face, "You're damn right it's over!" he declared as he thrust his hand and body weight forward. **"RASENGAN!"** he shouted as he blasted Kabuto away.

Just as Orichimaru was about to rush the blond another voice was heard, one that instantly had the snake gritting his teeth.

"Damn gaki, you didn't tell me you finished learning it," Jiraiya said as he landed facing his traitor of a teammate. He was flanked on both sides by Naruto's team.

Naruto smirked as he had Shino cone over and heal Shizune as much as possible. When he heard a sound coming from Kabuto's direction he got serious again. "Shizune, go heal the Toad of that poison and then find a way to get the stupid blond back in the fight." The medic nodded and took off, "Sinon," he started, making sure to address her as her avatar since their were hostiles around, "go protect those too and provide assistance for Kirito, he's gonna have to stall the pedo as long as possible."

She nodded, then she shocked him by kissing him on the cheek before going to fulfill her role, "Make sure you return to me."

He nodded as he narrowed his eyes and watched Kabuto bolt to his master's side, Naruto appearing between Kirito and Shino.

"You know what to do Kabuto," the Snake Sannin said.

Kabuto nodded, wiping blood in a tattoo on Orichimaru's forearm and quickly running through seals that everyone recognized. **"Summoning Justsu!"** he yelled as there were two large poofs of smoke.

Jiraiya ran through seals of his own, **"Earth style: Swamp of the Underworld!"** Immediately a swamp appeared under the two snakes. Sadly it was barely deep enough since there was still poison in his system.

"Alright, everyone knows their roles, Jiraiya don't jump in unless they need you. We need you back at 100. I've got Kabuto, Kirito you're taking the pedo for now. Can you handle it?" he asked wanting to make sure.

Kirito took his stance with both blades drawn, "I got him, just hurry up with healing that perv okay lady."

"I'll have him good as new soon." Shizune said, she was scared for the team but they seemed very confident.

Naruto grinned, "One last time guys, **let's go wild!"** he said as he fueled up using Kyuubi's chakra. He then vanished and they all saw Kabuto get blasted back towards where their fight started with a Kyuubified Naruto dashing after him.

Kirito and Sinon vanished next, Kirito lashing out at Orichimaru with both blades sparking with lightning chakra as the Sannin bended his body to avoid the strikes.

Sinon was seen running up the back of the snake summon, she slashed Orichimaru's ankles from behind before continuing and jumping off the front of the snake slightly to the side and turning in midair. She pulled out her bow loaded three arrows and fired. Two drilled into the summons eyes while the third impacted deep in between and the girl swung under its head using ninja wire. She came back up as Kirito sliced both swords across Orichimaru's stomach and she drop kicked the Sannin off the snake.

When he landed on the ground, fingers came out of his mouth prying it open and out came another Orichimaru with his tongue wrapped around a sword. "It's too bad that you chose the wrong side, you two are promising," he said as he rushed them after they landed. Suddenly, he was punched with a hellacious haymaker.

Jiraiya landed in front of the two teens. "Now don't tell me that you've gone and forgotten about your old teammate," he said with a grin before becoming serious. "Kirito, Sinon, that was some amazing work. I had to jump in before Shizune could finish but with you two here we should be fine. Kirito back me up but be careful, his sword is poisoned and not even Tsunade can clear it from your system, too many hits and you will die." Kirito nodded and the Toad Sannin glanced quickly at Sinon, "Sinon you... just keep doing your thing, Naruto is lucky to have a girlfriend like you."

Sinon's cheeks became red from a mix of a blush and anger, "We're not dating you old perv!" _'Maybe down the road though...'_

Jiraiya chuckled, "You keep telling yourself that. Anyway, lets go."

 ** _Thirty minutes later:_**

Naruto had been beating Kabuto around without a problem until he received a **Chakra Scalpel** to the stomach out of nowhere and was kicked away. He rolled right in front of Tsunade and passed out for a moment. That seemed to finally snap her out of her shock as she got up thinking him dead and proclaimed that Kabuto would not harm him in front of the Fifth Hokage anymore. Naruto woke up to see Kabuto blasted into the Snake Sannin and jumped to Jiraiya feeling what was about to happen as Tsunade, Kabuto, and Naruto all ran through seals in synch. **"Summoning Jutsu!"** they all shouted. It turned into a slaughter for team snake and they appearred to flee.

Everyone was standing around coming down from the battle with Tsunade healing everyone when Naruto noticed some rubble a distance away shift before a sword came out at high speed. He reacted on instinct and shoved the target, Tsunade, out of the way. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to dodge afterwards and was pierced through the heart by the Kusunagi.

Everyone froze, "NARUTO-KUN!" Surprisingly, Sinon was the first to recover. Quickly followed by Kirito who sliced the tongue off of the sword and quickly pulled it out of his friends chest just before the blond collapsed into Sinon's arms. "What were you thinking?!"

Naruto gave a weak smile as the combination of the heart wound and the poison had his health plummeting. He reached up and brushed his hand across her cheek wiping away tears, "Shi...no-chan, no...tears. I-" his hand dropped mid sentence as everyone watched him let out his last breath.

Shino grabbed his hand before it could hit the ground, "You what?! Come on?! You can't die, remember your promise, you have to make it back so we can meet in the real world!"

Everyone was silently crying as they watched the horrific scene in front of them. Kazuto had fallen to his knees and begun punching the ground yelling, "You idiot!" Around the time his knuckles started bleeding he realized something and his eyes went wide, "Shino, he got his memories back, he may still be alive! I'm sending you the info for the hospital, get there as soon as possible!" he yelled as he finished sending the message just before he was disconnected.

Shino archived the message on her system for access in the real world as she quickly logged out after kidding his forehead.

Jiraiya, Tsunade and Shizune, noticing none of this began walking away as if nothing happened as the world became black and a yellow flash was seen next to Naruto.

 **Author Style: Cliffhanger Jutsu!** **Before anyone says anything, I will be coming back to Elemental Nations Online! And no I'm not starting a whole different story, this one will continue for awhile. If I need to tell you the outcome then you have no imagination.** **Now to answer the question of 'why stop here?' To be honest, I never intended on stopping my ENO arc here. I actually didn't intend to even have Naruto gain his memories until the fight with Pain and then they would log out. But as my some of my fellow authors will tell you, sometimes the story writes itself. It was after the previous chapter that I decided I would either end it here or during the Sasuke retrieval arc pretty much the same way. The problem I noticed is that it seemed like our heroes were playing on easy difficulty and that's not what I wanted (Stupid story, writing yourself and shit!) I just couldn't imagine a way for Sasuke to successfully kill Naruto if even Orichimaru failed, and that was my logic behind ending it here. If this has been uploaded early, that is because I already have the next chapter finished and I'm working on the next chapter. If that's the case then the next chapter, Link Start Again, will be uploaded on 10 July 2017. I will not hold out on you simply because I was impatient. If this is uploaded on time however, then it will be 17 July for Link Start Again.** **Well, thats all for this chapter. To be perfectly honest I really like how the fight with Pedo-Teme turned out. Unfortunately for me, my opinion isn't important. The people who take the time to read my work is who's opinions I want so please leave me done reviews and let me know what you all thought. Good, bad I don't care as long as you're constructive about it if you put it down. I can't improve if no one tells me what they did and didn't like. Ja ne!**


	5. Link Start Again

**And we're back, again I apologize to anyone who was disappointed with how brief my initial ENO arc was. As I stated in the previous chapter, I do have a plan for them to return later. For those of you who were making suggestions on who to join in ENO, know that our original trio will have accompany when they** **return. Anyway lets get started**.

 **Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto or SAO**

 ** _Floor 1 Labyrinth: Boss Room_**

Naruto couldn't believe his shitty luck. It had only been just over a year since he escaped the game that had become his reality for far too long. Now Kazuto, Sinon and he were trapped in another game, Sword Art Online. They had all beta tested the game and loved it. They had each played solo so that when the official game was released they would know as much as possible together.

Unfortunately no one could log out now and all 10,000 players had been trapped in the death game. Over 2,000 people had died in both the game and the real world. Now they were standing outside the boss room hoping to prove that this game was in fact beatable and restore some hope. Forty-eight players had shown up and been divided into seven groups with six players each. Naruto, Kirito, and Sinon had made a party with Lisbeth, and a hooded girl named Asuna, and an small girl named Argo.

Naruto had met Lis the day the game was released. He taught her the basics of the game and helped her obtain her first level up before realizing they were trapped in the game.

Sinon had done the same as Naruto on the first day. She picked someone who seemed like they didn't know what to do and showed that person the basics. That person was Asuna. Naruto had met her the previous day, albeit briefly. No one had really seen what the girl was capable of except Sinon, but she vouched for her.

Argo was an info broker that Naruto and his two friends met during the beta and was mainly entering the dungeon as support to cover Sinon.

It was almost time to enter and Naruto was thinking about the events since waking up from his last death game.

 ** _Hospital:_**

 _Naruto began to slowly open his eyes, as his vision began to clear he heard some shuffling and muffled speaking. He began to sit up before realizing that he was too weak having spent a little over six months in bed. So he decided to make his presence known, "Can I get some help over here?"_

 _"Naruto?!" he heard Kazuto and a girl yell. Then he saw his friend and the girl come around the curtain._

 _The blond stared at the girl for a moment before realizing who she must be. "Shino?" he asked._

 _She smiled brightly and nodded as she walked beside his bed and helped him sit up against the headboard. She then took off his nerve gear helmet and hugged him as she started crying._

 _Naruto smiled as he hugged her back, "Hey, why are you crying. Look at me, I'll be fine after some physical therapy."_

 _"I really thought we lost you in there Naruto-kun." She then froze as she remembered those last moments in the game. "Actually, I'm curious about something," she said as she started pressing her index fingers together._

 _The blond grinned before lightly flicking her forehead, "So then ask silly."_

 _"Um, what exactly were you trying to say before you...died?"_

 _Naruto froze as he realized what she was talking about. He looked up to see Kazuto grin before walking away. "You traitor!" He then noticed Shino eyeing him expectantly and mumbled something._

 _"What was that?" she asked leaning closer._

 _Naruto took a deep breath, "I love you...or at least I think I do. Maybe it's too soon to tell," he said before looking up and seeing the shocked look on her face. "I know you have a past and that you're not ready to talk about it yet, and I am more than willing to wait till you're ready. Since we're going to be friends, I have plenty of time to wait." Shino looked down and away from him, "And if you decide to just be friends, then I'll still be happy either way."_

 ** _6 months ago:_**

 _Naruto had just walked out of school and noticed that Shino was nowhere to be seen when he heard a sound from around the corner. After rounding the corner he saw that the source was a group of three girls that had a fourth surrounded with the apparent leader pointing a finger gun at the fourth which was Shino._

 _"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" he yelled as he ran towards the group and protectivly placed himself between his friend and the group._

 _After calling their bluff of being friends with Shino and scaring them off, he consoled his friend and walked her home. Once they arrived she told him her story of how she had killed a man._

 _"I can't pretend to understand the affect that had on you Shino, but the way I see it, you saved not only your mom but everyone else in that bank. Did you kill someone? Yes, but the more important question you have to ask is 'how many lives did you save?'" he had told her while she sobbed into his shoulder. She even showed him her personal therapy of holding a toy gun while holding off a panic attack as long as possible._

 _A few months after that, the beta test for SAO had been released and all three split up to discover as much as possible. The only times they had really met was for the boss rooms. Back then, the monsters were easier and they could respawn, even though their equipment retained and wear and tear_. _Then the game was released and at the end of their first day they had been given the shocking news._

 ** _Town of beginnings main square:_**

 _In a flash of blue light Kirito appeared back in the starting town, "A forced teleport?" He looked over and saw Klein, the player he had taken to teach the basics._

 _"Naruto, what's going on?" a girls voice asked from behind Kirito. He turned and saw his friends avatar which looked almost the same as in real life, the only major change being that his hair was longer and his eyes were the same violet as his mother's had been._

 _Sinon stepped up next to the group with a hooded figure a few steps behind her. "None of us know but look up there," she said pointing to a red 'attention' sign in the sky. "I have a feeling that we're about to find out."_

 _Everyone watched as the sky became red and a substance that looked like blood began leaking from the digital ceiling high in the sky. The substance formed into a giant hooded figure and turned out to be Kayaba Akihiko. He told them how they were now stuck inside his game and how he simply wanted to be in control of his own world. He then told everyone to check their storage for a gift from him before disappearing._

 _The group of six each pulled a mirror out and in a flash of light, suddenly everyone looked like they did in real life. Afterwards the panic set in and the three beta testers drug their new friends quickly away from the crowd towards the exit. Klein declined the offer to join them in going to the next town, opting to meet with his real-life friends and stick with them._ _The hooded figure had disappeared in the panic._

 _Sinon said that she was going northeast to continue gathering wasp stingers. Naruto tried to convince her to stick with him and Kirito but she declined stating that splitting up would be more beneficial. After hugging her friends and promising to contact them every day possible the girl ran off at full speed._

 _Lis happily accepted the offer to join the boys in running to the next town and the three took off at full speed, killing any monsters in their way with quick combos and teamwork._

 ** _A few hours later:_**

 _Naruto and co. could finally see Horunka Village which was their destination. They had been walking for the last ten minutes and Kirito and he were planning on doing the quest 'Secret Medicine of the Forest' before getting some rest._

 _"HELP!!!" the trio suddenly heard from the left and ran at full speed to find the source of the distress call. Naruto and Kirito had their one-handed swords drawn while Lis and drawn her one-handed mace._

 _When they reached the clearing sheets the call had come from, they froze as they took in the scene in front of them. There was a young girl with shoulder length black hair blocking the vines of a Large Nepent using a leather shield, her health dropping with every hit. Naruto recovered quickly and rushed in with Kirito right behind him. The blond held his sword behind him with the tip carving a path from his starting position as it glowed. " **《VERTICAL》** " he yelled as he swung upwards and countered the vine._

 _"NARUTO, SWITCH!" Kirito yelled, jumping in with his sword angled down to the side glowing as soon as his friend jumped back. " **《SLANT》** " he called as he dug his blade into the plant monster and drug all three way from the bottom right to the top left._

 _During Kiritos's attack, Naruto had managed to grab the girl and jump back, getting her safe. "Lis, switch with Kirito now and counter the next attack! Then I'll switch in and attack, that's how we'll take it out!"_

 _Lis nodded, "Kirito, switch!"_

 _The boy jumped back as she jumped in and used her maceskill, countering the next attack and even getting a good strike before Naruto ran back in. The battle carried one like this for five minutes until Naruto finally finished it off with a **Horizontal Arc》**. He even got two 'Nepenthes's Ovules' which was exactly what they had been coming to the village for._

 _After getting the girl to calm down enough to talk, they found out her name was Sachi and she started with her five high school computer club friends. They had been brought to Horunka immediately following the announcement from Kayaba via party teleport by a beta tester named Coper who ran here as soon as the game started before being teleported back. After the first ovule had dropped, Coper had activated a trap to perform a monster pk, player kill. Afterwards the girl had fallen asleep and the group decided they would bring her along if she wanted and teach her how to be strong so that she would never have to watch helplessly as someone died in front of her. Naruto even convinced her the next day to switch or her sword with a glaive he purchased for her._ _She spent the next few days with them learning her new weapon, but ultimately she decided to go off on her own one night while everyone was asleep._

 ** _Two days before the boss fight:_**

 _Naruto was exploring the labyrinth in hopes of finding the boss room. His friends were all back in Tolbana town resting and preparing for the meeting the next day. According to his friend Argo, someone had finally found the boss room and was going to stage a raid on it. Naruto was hoping to find it himself to make sure their were no changes from the beta. Suddenly, his stomach started grumbling. "Guess I should make my way to the safe zone and grab a quick bite. I still have a few hours before I plan to head back."_

 _Fortunately, he had already mapped out that section of the dungeon and knew his way there. When he finally made it, he noticed someone else just entering. Based on the persons figure, he assumed it was a girl but he couldn't tell for sure because of the cloak they were wearing._

 _He leaned against the wall a few feet away and slid down to relax while he ate. "Hi there," he said as he navigated his menu. "Having any luck today? I've been trying to find the boss room here for about five days."_

 _The player shrugged their shoulders and started to get up._

 _Naruto sighed, "You know, this area is plenty big enough for the two of us. You should rest, if not you'll be exhausted for your trip home."_

 _Three person stopped and turned slightly looking over their shoulder, "Home?"_

 _Naruto grinned, 'Definitely a girl and definitely exhausted.' He stood back up and stretched before taking a small bite of his bread and putting it back. "Well yeah, from this point it'll take a good hour and a half to get to the closest town."_

 _She turned back forward, "Then it's a good thing I have no intention of going home."_

 _Naruto looked at her confused, "What about potions, repairing equipment and sleep?"_

 _She stopped and he saw her fist clinch, "You don't need potions if you don't get hit, I stock piled multiple rapiers, and I can sleep in the safe zone."_

 _He thought about what she said for a moment, "Well I can't argue with that logic seeing as I've done the same in the past. So how long you been here if I can ask."_

 _Naruto heard her release a heavy sigh, "Three, maybe four days. Can I go now, I need to keep moving." She began walking away rather shakily while holding a hand to the wall._

 _Then she started to fall, Naruto moved in front of her and caught her before she could hit the ground. 'She's gonna die if she keeps going like this,' he thought as he started making his way for the exit._

 _The next morning, the day of the meeting, Naruto was awoken to the sound of stirring from the bed across from his inn room. He had carried the girl all the way back to town, rented a room for the night, and laid her on the bed before sitting in the window sill and passing out. Finally, she seemed to be waking._

 _He decided to speak before she could jump to conclusions. "Check your inventory and you'll notice you still have all your stuff, also your still wearing all your equipment."_

 _The girl stiffened before slowly sitting up and looking around, "Why?"_

 _Naruto chuckled, "Because it would be rude to take advantage of you while you were asleep."_

 _She shook her head, "No, why did you save me? You shouldn't have. For that matter, how?"_

 _Naruto shook his head, "I carried you on my back, had to take a lot of breaks but I wasn't about to leave you there to die knowing I could do something."_

 _"And why would you care about me? You don't know me," she growled through clenched teeth._

 _He finally had enough of her pissy attitude. He flipped of the window sill and crossed his arms as he gave her the coldest glare possible. "First of all, you may not remember me, but if I'm correct one of my close friends showed you the basics on the first day! So she would be pissed if she knew I let her work go to waste. Second, if I was going to leave you there it would be the same as if I killed you myself! If you wanna go get yourself killed, fine! But it ain't happening on my watch! I don't care about myself, I fight to make sure that every person capable can make it back to their loved ones!" He then walked out and slammed the door before she could formulate a response._

 _A few hours later_ _Naruto, Kirito, Sinon and Lis were sitting in an amphitheater for the meeting about the boss fight._

 _Sinon had found out that she could dye her hair and it was now blue again. She had also gained a descent number of throwing knives and was becoming quick with them. Sadly, due to their low durability they were only good for one shot each._

 _Lis had changed her outfit, she now was wearing what looked like a maids outfit with leather armor underneath. She also had a better war hammer and had begun focusing on blacksmith skills. She had been a huge reason why the boys had been able to afford better equipment since she fixed the groups equipment for free._

 _Naruto and Kirito would have looked like twins if not for the different hair colors. Both wore leather trench coats, dark red and grey respectively. The boys had both received the 'Anneal Blade' in exchange for the Nepenthes Ovules the day after saving Sachi._

 _Naruto had taken the lead in leveling awhile ago thanks to the fact that he slept half as much as the others due to his six years of ninja training. He also never took days off with the rest of the group. His main focus had become a mix of strength, speed and agility. Thanks to focusing on more areas of battle, Naruto had fallen behind Kirito in speed and reflexes but he was fine with that. His higher strength stat meant he could counter heavier attacks without losing as much health as Kirito would._

 _Naruto had been ignoring most of the meeting since he already knew the boss abilities and fighting pattern. Then he noticed a boy with spiky hair, Kibaou he called himself, land on the stage. He began blaming beta testers for the over 2,000 deaths since the game began. Just as Naruto was about to go down and break the guys nose, a dark skinned man named Agil stood and made his way down. Agil pointed out that the free guide book was created from info gathered by beta testers._

 _Naruto noticed the girl he had saved_ _stood up next and looked to him and his two friends. They all shared a glance and nodded before she spoke, "I was completely lost even before finding out about this death game, but their friend, a beta tester," she said motioning towards Sinon. "She split from them and took me elsewhere so she could show me the basics before Kayaba made his announcement. Afterwards she started dragging me along with both of them dragging someone each towards an exit, I assume they were going to take us three to form a six person group to start power leveling, I broke off though and stayed in the town of beginnings for the first two weeks before giving up on outside help."_

 _Lis stood next, "I don't know whether Naruto and Kirito were beta testers. Personally, I don't care, Naruto showed the basics to me day one and Kirito and him have been helping me since that day. As far as her comment about forming a party, it's true. Kirito invited someone who he taught to join us but he declined. Afterwards we invited another player to join us in Horunka village but she also declined. Without their help, I'm not sure that I would have survived."_

 _Diabel, the player who had been leading the meeting before the interruptions, coughed loudly gaining everyone's attention. "Most of you here know me, I've helped a lot of you level up." Most of the crowd gave a short applause, "Well I'm also a beta tester, I apologize for hiding this from you but with the negativity towards us beta testers, I was scared that some of you would avoid me and then if something would have happened to you I would have felt guilty knowing that I may have been able to prevent it. Would you three please join me down here?"_

 _Kirito, and Sinon hung there heads as they slowly approached the stage followed by Lis and Asuna. Naruto smiled, nodded, and leapt down in one fluid motion. "High guys, I'm Naruto, sidenote that's actually my real name," he said rubbing the back of his head. "These are my friends, both in this world and the real one, Kirito and Sinon. Without going into details, this is actually my second time being trapped in a game with only one life and they willingly entered that game to help me escape. Anyway, that's not important right now, what is important is that you'll find beta testers who are douche bags, and regular players who are douche bags._ "

 ** _Outside the boss room:_**

After the meeting the groups had been made and the Naruto's group had been placed on mob duty since they could quickly dispatch the **Ruin Kobold Sentinels** that would spawn with the boss. Kibaou's group was also on mob duty. Afterwards, Naruto, Kirito and Asuna would focus on the boss until each hp bar was depleted. Then they would retreat to their group and prepare for the next mob.

Naruto was drug from his thoughts by the sound of metal meeting cement. He looked up to see Diabel addressing the crowd. _'Guy makes for one hell of a leader'_ he thought with a smile. His group jogged into the room with the rest of the raid group. The darkness lifted as the boss, **Illfang the Kobold Lord** , landed in front of them and four health bars appeared next to his head.

Then the three sentinels spawned in front of Illfang. "Naruto, you and your group pull the mobs attention so the tanks can distract the boss!" Diabel yelled.

Naruto nodded, "Right, Sinon you're up!"

The blue-haired girl pulled out two knives in her left hand and one in her right hand that she drew back, aimed for a moment, and threw at the lead sentinel saying **《Single Shot》**. As soon as it hit, all three looked towards their group, "Here they come, Argo and Lis, cover me incase they get close! You three know what to do!"

The forward group nodded, "Kirito, you two work together on one. I'll take one and we'll meet up to help with the third one if those three haven't already finished it!" They nodded and all three met the sentinels charge. As Naruto approached his target, he saw it got hit with a knife that stunned it and left it wide open. He smirked at the assist as he flipped his blade to a reverse grip at his side and finished it off with a slash across its throat. He looked back to see Asuna rushing their sentinel with amazing speed and driving her rapier into it's throat with her **《Linear》** skill, finishing it off with one shot. He then saw Kirito counter the last sentinel and rushed to his aid hitting it without a sword skill at the same time as Kirito, leaving an 'X' on it before it burst into polygons. "Now, lets go get the big guy!" As they approached, the boss shifted his focus to them, "Kirito counter his first hit, then get ready to switch!" Kirito took the lead and countered with a **《Vertical》** afterwards yelling switch, Naruto hit him with a **《Serration Wave》** applying a small stun, "Now, switch!"

Before he could blink the girl sped past him, " **《Parallel Sting!》** " she shouted driving her weapon into it twice in quick succession. "Switch!" she yelled.

Naruto and Kirito speed past her. Illfang recovered and swung for their chests, Kirito slid under the massive sword while Naruto jumped high over it. "Now Kirito!" Kirito performed a **《Horizontal Arc》** at the bosses waist. Naruto spun in a fast motion yelling the same while spinning leaving diagonal slashes from hip to shoulder. Once they finished, the tanks came back in to get the boss' attention as four more sentinels spawned, Naruto noticed this and yelled out, "There was only suppose to be three sentinels! Be careful, there may be other changes!" Then his group knocked three sentinels towards their group in the rear while Sinon hit the fourth with a throwing knife.

The battle continued on with damage and defense untilthe boss reached his final bar prompting six minions to spawn. _'I'm really not liking these changes, who knows what else will be different,_ Kirito thought as he finished a minion.

Just then a roar sounded through the room and as Diabel rushed forward to finish the boss twelve more sentinels appeared around the players. Illfang threw his sword and shield and pulled out a, "That's not a Talwar, it's a Nodachi! Diabel get out of there, the info is useless right now!" Sinon yelled. Several players including Agil, Kibaou and Diabel looked towards her, but it was too late as the boss jumped off multiple pillars before landing and slashing the leader across the chest and blasting him away with another slash.

Naruto rushed forward, "Kirito heal him and then get in here, my group cover him! Everyone else is on sentinel duty! I'll do what I can to hold the boss!" He charged in, deflected a few blows and jumped deflecting another blow. Then he prepared another **Horizontal Arc**. The boss recovered before he could hit and punched Naruto in the gut, blasting him away.

Asuna's eyes widened, "Naruto!" She jumped high and caught the blond in mid air. As she landed, they looked over to see Diabel refusing the health potion from Kirito.

"You were after the last attack bonus, the rare item for the player who gets the final hit," Kirito said with tears in his eyes.

"Please, you guys have to beat the boss for everyone." Diabel began fading before bursting into polygons.

The group noticed a shadow fall over them and looked to see Illfang ready to sweep the whole group. Kirito jumped up and deflected the first shot, only to be blasted into Sinon by a second attack. Just before the boss could finish the entire group, Agil countered the third swing. "You guys regroup and heal, we can hold this guy off for a moment."

Naruto and Kirito nodded to him as Sinon and Asuna gave each a health potion. Afterwards the whole group turned to Naruto as he equipped a second blade, "Sinon aim for his eyes or his throat! Argo stay with her incase anymore sentinels spawn! The rest of us will focus on damage, be mindful of his quick recovery and be ready to switch at a moments notice!" Everyone nodded and rushed into position.

Kirito took the lead and countered the first strike with Asuna zooming past him barely after the switch already preparing a skill. Illfang recovered and prepared to strike her down, "Asuna look out!" Naruto yelled out. She quickly ducked enough that the strike only managed to destroy her cloak.

Asuna lowered her rapier to her hip as it glowed brighter for a stronger skill. " **《Triangular》** " she shouted blasting the boss three times in the chest faster than anyone could follow. Illfang recovered and reared back for a counter, "Switch!"

Lis sprinted past with her mace glowing, she countered his attack, shoving Illfangs blade to the side, "Switch!"

"Lis, give me a boost with your shield! Asuna follow after me and counter him for me after I hit him! Kirito hit him with everything you have!" Naruto shouted as he ran straight to Lis. When he stepped on her shield, she threw him up as he jumped and twisted, slashing with both swords, "Switch!" He yelled. Asuna flew between Naruto and the boss and countered the next strike in mid air. While Kirito was jumping high off of Lis' shield, Naruto reached for Asuna, she grabbed his hand and yelled 'switch'. As she pulled him down, he pulled her up. The end result was Naruto spinning very fast, to the raid party he looked like a tornado. Kirito began falling performing a **《Horizontal Arc》** immediately after Naruto slashed through the boss too many times to count.

Then the boss burst apart signaling that he had been beaten just before a 'Congratulations' screen appeared in the middle of the room. Kirito received the last attack bonus. As Agil was thanking the group, Kibaou spoke up, "Why? Why did you let him die? You knew the bosses attack pattern would be different!" he accused the group.

There was a lot of murmuring going through the crowd, most agreeing with the accusations. Suddenly laughing was heard and everyone turned to see the three friends slowly stand, Kirito looked to his friends and smiled before addressing the crowd, "So you guys think we're beta testers? Well you're only partially right. Most of you here are better than those guys were, not including Diabel, I had a lot of respect for him leading you guys to this point." A few people clapped for his words about their former leaded.

When the applause died down, Sinon picked up where Kirito had left off, "The fact of the matter is this. The three of us are in a league of our own. During the beta, we would solo each floor until finding the boss room. Then we would meet up and solo the boss one at a time so that only we could move to the next floor." There were multiple gasps heard through the crowd. Soloing a boss, just the idea was inconceivable to the rest of the group after what they had just witnessed.

Naruto interrupted her when the crowd looked back to the trio, "We made it higher than anyone else during the beta, fighting bosses and creatures on much higher floors that made Illfang look like he belonged just outside the starting town, that's a fact! So grouping us with the beta testers is an insult."

Kibaou looked shocked, "If that's true, th-then you three are worse than beta testers, you're a bunch of cheaters!" Most of the assembled players agreed and eventually someone called them 'Beaters'.

Naruto grinned evil, "Beaters huh?"

The three looked at each other before Kirito and Sinon mimicked his expression. "Okay, you can call us Beaters," Kirito said as the group approached the stairs.

Sinon turned her head to the side slightly, grin still in place, "Just as long as you don't confuse us for beta testers again."

Someone in the crowd decided they weren't finished with the trio, "That still doesn't explain why you let Diabel die!"

The group stopped and Sinon turned around, "Diabel was an amazing leader who could have made beta testers accepted. But he was just trying to get the last attack bonus for himself. I tried warning him of the change before he died and I know you heard me Kibaou because you looked right at me when I shouted. Diabel died because despite all his redeeming qualities, he was greedy!"

Kibaou glared back, "What did you say bitch?!" Most of the raid group were glaring at the group now.

Suddenly, Naruto vanished and reappeared with his sword drawn back glowing and his hand around Kibaou's throat. "First of all, watch your mouth when you're talking to my friends!" He then shoved Kibaou to the ground and sheathed his sword while waking back to his group. "Second off all, and pay attention everyone, any time you fight a boss, there is an item that can only be acquired by the person who gets the final strike. Kirito, show them," he said as he stepped next to his friend with his back turned to the rest off the group.

Kirito nodded and equipped the item as his grey trench coat was replaced by a black one. Then he turned and the whole group, Lis and Asuna included, followed him and Naruto up the stair case, "You guys head back to town and spread the word that the boss has been beaten and rest. We'll activate the teleport gate to give everyone access to the second floor."

As the group was ascending the stair case they heard a few people clapping. Those were the ones who realized they were trying to take the public's hate away from the beta testers. As they neared the gate a small figure ran past the raid group and jumped on Kiritos back. "Do you really have to do that Argo? We kind of just finished fighting a boss here."

The whiskered girl merely smiled, "I know," she said with a smile. "You guys were amazing!"

Naruto chuckled and then looked towards the info broker, "You know Argo, I've been curious for awhile at where you got your whiskers. Are they real?"

The girl gave him a puzzled look as the group stepped into the second floor. "Are you telling me that yours are real?" When he nodded, she continued, "Honestly if I would've known that, I would've told you guys during the beta. Those are a very interesting birthmark. So how much are you offering for the info?"

Naruto seemed to think for a moment before glancing to Kirito and Sinon. They seemed to understand the silent question because they both nodded. "How about a spot in the guild we're going to create on the third floor? You'll have exclusive rights to any info, we come across plus our protection and we'll help you train. In exchange, we'll get first rights to any info you come across for free and the guild will pay for the publication of the updated guide books. How's that for a deal?" he asked as he held out his hand.

Argo hopped of Kirito and stood in front of Naruto for a moment before looking up, taking his hand and smiling, "Sounds pretty damn good to me."

Naruto smiled back before he noticed the other two girls looking at him, "I'm sorry, I should have put it to a vote first."

Asuna looked confused, "What do you mean a vote?"

Noticing the confused looks on their faces, Kirito stepped up, "Well Naruto, Sinon and myself had already decided you three would be invited. There's only so much a solo player can do by themselves. Eventually you need a group or a guild to make significant progress in a game like this."

Lis looked unsure, "Are you sure, I mean, I wouldn't wanna hold you guys back."

Sinon took the lead, "Of course we're sure about all of you. Asuna, I need someone to keep the two meat heads covered when their being stupid." Asuna giggled and nodded as the 'meat heads' wept anime tears. Shaking their reaction off she continued, "The reasoning for Argo has already been covered. Lis, with you being an aspiring blacksmith, you'll be invaluable. As soon as we have the money, we're going to get a shop that you'll be able to use and Argo can advertise to bring business. Plus you'll have us to accompany you when you need new materials." Lis smiled brightly and nodded.

Naruto took the lead again, "Every single member of this group is absolutely crucial to how we operate from this point forward and I hope that we'll be able to get a designated tank one day. Honestly the only thing that we could really use right now is a healer." Naruto turned towards the second floor and gazed out at the Mesas that dotted the landscape. "Let's move guys, we need to hurry and activate that portal so we can get some rest before heading out to start clearing the new front line!"

 **AND CUT!**

 **Mesa: American English term for tableland, an elevated area of land with a flap top and sides that are usually steep cliffs.**

 **As far as Naruto duel wielding, lol at a photo of the guild titans hand and you'll see a guy duel wielding axes. He just won't have access to sword skills.**

 **That's all for this week people. Don't worry, I won't be doing any super long flash backs like that again. So we have the main members of the guild. There will be two more major member but one person won't be joining until much later when they get a permanent building, and I'm not sure when I'll bring the other member in. I haven't decided what floor their permanent guild building will be on yet.**

 **Give me ideas for Naruto's weapons, I'm thinking duel ninjatos.**

 **Nothing else to say as of now besides, please review and let me know what you thought. Also I will only be using the '《》' for new moves from now on. Any moves that have already been debuted will simply be in bold and bosses will be in bold underline. Till next time guys!**


	6. AN

I plan on rewriting this story at some time, not sure when though.

For now, I've started another crossover. **_The Maelstrom Saiyan_**. Check it out and leave a review


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